I came across this one while getting topics together for The Hits Keep Coming tonight.

Ernie Harwell, the longtime former radio voice of the Detroit Tigers, is making a attempt to save the venerable Tiger Stadium on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull.  Harwell has started a “Save Tiger Stadium” movement as a last ditch effort before the stadiums planned demolition by the public-private partnership the Detroit Economic Developement Group.

The city council voted 5-4 on July 27th to allow the group to raze the structure. 

Harwell, along with attorney S. Gary Spicer, have been given until October 1st by Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to hear ther plan before proceding with the demolition plans.  The stadium which has stood since 1912, saw its last Tigers game in 1999.  In 2000 Tigers owner Mike Illitch moved the team to the brand new Comerica Park. 

Harwell, who called Tigers game for 42 years, envisions a renovated and revived Tiger Stadium as a venue for boxing, amatuer football and amatuer baseball with 10,000 to 14,000 seats bringing the capacity closer to the orginal of 23,000.  Tiger Stadiums capacity was 52,416 when it closed.

“In America, we have a tendency to knock down anything that’s over 30 years old and make a parking lot out of it,” the 89-year-old Hall of Fame member said Tuesday. “Whereas in Europe, they preserve all these beautiful buildings and structures that have a history. I sort of like the European approach.”

And I don’t mean the lawyers.

The Wily Mo Peña era is officially over now in Boston. The Red Sox received their PTNBL from the Washington Nationals today. The Nationals sent over Chris Carter, 1B/OF, who they just acquired from the Diamondbacks for Emilio Fruto.

With the Diamondbacks Triple-A, the Tucson Sidewinders, he was hitting .324 with 18 home runs and 84 RBIs. He has 163 hits on the season. Last year with the Sidewinders, he hit .301 with 19 home runs and 97 RBIs.

I would have to think that the Red Sox are going to send him to Triple-A Pawtucket to finish the season. He doesn’t have to be protected on the Sox 40 man roster so for him to be called up in September, his contract would have to be purchased.

David LeFort has a good point on Extra Bases. Is this the end of the Mike Lowell era? Could the Sox move Youk to third and give Carter a chance to win the job at first next year. And what if AROD opts out, what do the Red Sox do. Personally, I’d like to see Lowell back with the Sox but if given a chance to get AROD, by all means go for it.

Oh and by the way, WMP has hit two homeruns with the Nationals, including a monstrous blast on Sunday at RFK.

How would you like to own Big Papi’s car? Right now, you would put in a bid that’s higher than $169,500. That’s right, Big Papi is putting up his 2005 Mercedes-Benz: SL-Class SL65 AM up for bid on Ebay. From the Ebay posting:

Not only are you securing your chance to sit behind the wheel of what critics have referred to as the “fantasy convertible” but this is a chance to own a piece of Red Sox history. This dream car belongs to David Ortiz, aka Big Papi, of the Boston Red Sox. This was a gift to himself after winning the 2004 World Series and was his prized possession over the past two years. This car has been pampered for its short life, taking Big Papi back and forth to Fenway Park. The car has a little over 4,000 miles on it and has been always dealer serviced and is in immaculate, showroom condition.

This SL65 AMG features a powerful 6.0- liter 12-cylinder, twin-turbo charged engine, hand built following AMG’s one-man-one-engine philosophy for unparalleled quality and workmanship. Supplemented by 738 lb.-ft. of torque, the SL65 boasts 604 horsepower and rockets from 0-60 in just over four seconds. This car is a real head turner and has many additional options including custom aero kit, including Lorinser Fenders. The car is sitting on 20″ Lowenhart LSR wheels wrapped with Contintental Sport Contact Tires. This car cost David over $205,000 when it was purchased and then he spent another $35,000 in aftermarket accessories. This car has been featured in DUB magazine and won the 2006 award for Best Celebrity Car.

This car will be hand delivered at Fenway Park to the lucky winner of this auction by Big Papi, himself. He will bring you your new car with keys and title in hand.

Good luck and happy bidding.

All I can say is that is one fine car. Who wants to pool their money together and purchase it with me. Any takers?

First, we brought you ‘In the Red Zone’ about the Patriots and the NFL, then we brought you ‘Paw Prints’ about the big 3 sports at UCONN, now we bring you ‘Tidbits from the Gridiron’ about college football. With Steve being the primary contributor to ‘In the Red Zone’ and me being a huge college football fan, I felt I needed to contribute something from the college football ranks. Alot of you are huge college football fans, so I thought this was something people would like to see. Don’t get me wrong, the main features of this blog will still be the beloved Boston Red Sox and UCONN Huskies. It’s just when you are a huge fan of something, you want to express your feelings about it and let people know what’s going on out there. And what better way to do it then right here on SOX & Dawgs.

Every Tuesday I will bring you the latest college football news and polls with links to the stories you want to hear. So without further adieu, let’s get this party started. And as much as I hate Notre Dame football (Sorry Steve), I am leading off with them.

Heralded Notre Dame freshman quarterback Jimmy Clausen received a citation for transporting alcohol according the Associated Press. Clausen had driven a 23-year old friend to purchase alcohol, which I guess is a no-no in the state of Indiana. Clausen will have that wiped from his record if he stays out of trouble for a year and completes the pre-trial diversion program. He also had to pay a $170 fine. Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis said “it was an honest mistake” and wouldn’t discipline Clausen.

My friend Brian isn’t too happy right now as two of his Iowa Hawkeye’s receivers, Dominque Douglas and Anthony Bowman, have been arrested on charges of unauthorized use of a credit card. The pair charged over $2,000 from the unidentified victims’ accounts. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has suspended the two from the team indefinitely. Douglas was the team’s leading receiver last season.

Starting in 2008, “The U” will start playing it’s home games at Dolphin Stadium. University of Miami president Donna Shalala said the trustee’s made the decision to move because it will generate more money for “The U”.

Former University of Hawai’i receiver Ian Sample claims that university officials and players manipulated mandated drug tests. School officials are investigating his claims and head coach June Jones says these allegations aren’t true.

Two West Virginia University possible starters for the football team were arrested on charges of transferring and receiving stolen property. Ellis Lankster and J.T. Thomas allegedly stole a laptop computer and 32 inch tv. West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez has now instituted an 11 PM curfew.

Continue reading →

……..But Carl Yastrzemski gets a birth control pill??

Yaz not only helps women prevent pregnancy but “it’s the only birth control proven to treat emotional and physical premenstrual symptoms that are severe enough to impact the lives of women”. Things like fatigue, bloating, moodiness and acne.

I guess I never realized that the 1967 Triple Crown winner made women want to get their groove on without any post grooving consequences.

There’s no word on if the pill is made of or tastes like chocolate.

Now I’m not making fun of PMS or PMDD, as I am well aware of the fact they can be and are serious conditions for some women. I just find it funny that my childhood hero has a birth control pill named after him.

If you’re a fan of Prison Break, season 3 begins on September 17th and from this preview, it looks pretty kickass. Of course a lot of things in previews look good then suck, but I have a feeling that this isn’t one of those. Enjoy.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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If you’re a Red Sox fan you’ve almost assuredly heard the terms “Fenway Sports Group” and “New England Sporting Ventures”. Because of baseball’s luxury tax situation in which the top payroll teams have to pay the 40 cents on every dollar over the tax cap, Red Sox ownership had to look at new ways to bring money in that didn’t fall into the luxury tax situation.

The Red Sox already had a secondary revenue stream because the partnership also owned New England Sports Network (NESN), the regional sports television network that broadcasts the teams games as well as those of the NHL’s Boston Bruins but it just wasn’t enough.

This led to the start up of Fenway Sports Group.

Mike Dee, who is the president of FSG as well as the Red Sox chief operating officer, was empowered with finding new business opportunities through sports and entertainment.

FSG is owned by New England Sports Ventures, the partnership that also owns the Red Sox and NESN. The Red Sox, while the primary business, are considered the “calling card” not the product of FSG. Dee and Sam Kennedy, who also has roles with the Red Sox and FSG, look at it as the “door opener” to other ventures.

Some of these ventures have included assisting Boston College in marketing its high profile move from the Big East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference by assisting businesses in purchasing billboards and advertising for BC sporting events. It’s helping Deutsche Bank with the sponsorship of the PGA Tour event or helping Sovereign Bank with financial sponsorships for BC. They’re all ways of generating revenue.

Fenway Sports Group got its start with FanFoto, which sent photographers out into the Fenway crowd to take pictures that were sold to the fans. Soon nine other major league clubs had FSG’s FanFoto working in their stadiums.

But the big fish was the recent addition of half of NASCAR’s Rousch Racing and renaming the venture Rousch Fenway Racing. And the Rousch Fenway Racing group has four top notch drivers on the Nextel Cup circuit with Carl Edwards, Gregg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray running the speedways every weekend in search of another championship for New England Sports Ventures. While, the goal for FSG is a title, the partnership gave Jack Rousch an influx of cash that allows him to compete as the sport grows and to remain competitive in NASCAR for the long haul.

While Fenway Sports Group recently sold FanFoto at a profit it is continually looking for new ventures. Some of the things the group is working on are post game concerts after Celtics and Bruins games to help fill the TD BankNorth Garden on nights when the local teams don’t. They also draw revenue from all 30 MLB teams from their web sites by selling online advertising through major league baseball advance media.

They also own Red Sox Destinations which sells complete travel packages to fans so that they can see the team on the road in different locations through out the country. Some of the places Red Sox Destinations have gone this year have been Kansas City, Baltimore, Atlanta and Arizona. The partnership felt with tickets for Fenway park being at a premium it would be a good way for fans to have a different kind of Red Sox experience.

New England Sports Ventures, because of Fenway Sports Group, has become someone to do business with outside of baseball. Like it or love it, the Red Sox ownership has not only thought of unique ways to market the team but invented ways to bring more revenue into the partnership to keep the team competitive for a long time.

A few weeks ago Jermaine Dye was wanted by the Boston Red Sox but the White Sox asking price was too high. Today, the South Side White Sox decided to sign Dye to a 2-year $22 million extension. The deal includes a mutual option for a 3rd year.

Dye gave the Chi-sox a hometown discount rather than testing the open waters of free agency this winter. Dye has played for the Royals, Braves and A’s besides the White Sox in his career.

I guess the White Sox wanted to make some noise in the Chicago papers after the Big Z signing yesterday.

I stayed away from writing about the whole mess with Tim Donaghy due to the fact that I am not really that big of NBA fan anymore. But with the recent acquisition of KG and Ray Ray, I may once again start watching the C’s for the first time since the early 90’s. So yes, I am jumping on the bandwagon and you know what I don’t care.

So about that Donaghy mess. It could really become an even bigger embarrassment for the NBA now. As part of his cooperation with the federal government, Donaghy will share information that will implicate 20 other referees in some form of gambling activity. Up until now, it had been thought that Donaghy was the only one involved.

“As far as we know, the misconduct was isolated to one individual, and we’ll stand by that until proven otherwise,” National Basketball Referees Association director Lamell McMorris told ESPN.com’s Chris Sheridan. “We’ll review whatever information Tim Donaghy alleges, but as far as we’re concerned, the only person whose conduct has been proven wrong is Tim Donaghy. We’re dealing with truth, not hearsay, and the truth is that the only person who has pleaded guilty to any kind of wrongdoing is Tim Donaghy.”

As David Stern said in his press conference, gambling is not tolerated by any employee of the NBA. So if this ends up proving to be true, Stern is going to be one PO’d commissioner. This whole mess had already given the NBA a “black eye” and now it might go for the other one as well.

[ESPN]