In the previous round of the Rookie Card Playoffs, hometown hero Joe Mauer’s 2002 sideburnless Topps card won our hearts, placing first with 31% of the votes over teammate Torii Hunter’s 24%.

JIM THOME managed 22% of the votes and Vlad the Destroyer earned 12%, just egding out old-schooler Mike Piazza, who gained only 10% of the tallies.

This brings us straight to the eighth and final set, The Rivalry Round. Check out these current player’s cards and choose the one you like best. Once again, your favoritism may be based on absolutely anything.

Maybe seeing Jason Varitek in pinstripes or a young shortstop-playing A-Rod couldn’t make you happier. How about Big Papi with a completely different last name and about 65 pounds missing from his frame?

Johnny Damon is looking dapper in a half-unbuttoned KC uni, while… that doesn’t even look like Derek Jeter to me.

Voting for this set ends Tuesday and then it’s onto the Final Round, where all eight winners will vy for the coveted Rookie Card Champion of the World award.

As always you can vote here or go visit my beautiful co-host, Sooze, over at Babes Love Baseball.

Here is a pretty funny video about Roger Clemens 50 years from now.

Hat tip to Boston Dirt Dogs and Extra Bases for the find.

Tonight both shows will be heard exclusively on MVN Radio. The address is http://mvn.com/radio.

The Hits Keep Coming…. at 7 PM

Beasts of the East at 8 PM

A month ago, Rick Hendrick said “there was no room at the inn.” Well obviously that wasn’t the case, as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. announced that he will be joining Hendrick Motorsports to drive one of the cars in Hendrick’s stable. The deal is for 5 years. As with most NASCAR contracts, financial terms were not disclosed.

Dale Jr. will be replacing Kurt Kyle Busch, who will leave Hendrick Motorsports at the end of the season. There is no word on what number the car will be or who will sponsor it.

I guess you can equate Hendrick Motorsports to the New York Yankees. He now has 3 of the top drivers in his racing stable with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and now Dale, Jr.

“I’ve taken this as seriously as anything I’ve ever done before,” Earnhardt said. “. . . We talked with many teams but one stood out above the rest and it became apparent to me the man I wanted to drive for.”

Now the fun part begins for Hendrick and Dale Jr. in working out a lot of the fine details that come along with this.

During the NESN pre-game show tonight Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino announced that NESN game analyst and former Red Sox player Jerry Remy AKA The Rem Dawg has been appointed acting interim President of Red Sox Nation. Remy, already the President of Rem Dawg Nation, now will be wearing another hat as the leader of all things Sox.

President Remy, a Somerset MA native, will serve until the end of the year when a general election will be held for President of Red Sox Nation. The President started his major league career in 1975 as a second baseman for the California Angels. In December of 1977 he was traded to the Red Sox for pitcher Don Aase when it was found that Aase didn’t believe in the notion of “The Nation” and for his safety was whisked away to the west coast in exchange for a native New Englander.

Our fearless leader played for the Sox from 1978 until his retirement during spring training in 1986 due to several knee injuries that were most likely caused by a conspiracy out of the Bronx. In 1988 he joined NESN as the game analyst working along side legendary broadcaster Ned Martin and has also worked with Sean McDonough, Bob Kurtz and currently with Don Orsillo. El Jefe has won four Emmy Awards for his stellar on air work and was recently inducted in the Red Sox Hall of Fame. The Rem Dawg also has a couple popular side businesses. The Remy Report website (www.theremyreport.com) is a site about all things Remy, Red Sox, New England Sports and many other things. Through the website our leader runs contests, sells Rem Dawg merchandise and organizes charity events like blood drives. In addition to the site, the commander in chief also owns “Rem Dawgs” on Yawkey Way, a specialty hot dog stand outside Fenway Park. Rem Dawgs, also serves as the on location set of the pre-game show when it’s done live from Fenway Park. It is now to be revered as the rose garden of Red Sox Nation.

With our greatest free thinker now installed as “El Presidente” we need to be more concerned for his safety. So with this we will need an extensive background check done on Orsillo, who has already tried to influence the chief executive into making him Vice President of the Rhode Island Chapter of Red Sox Nation, as well as Wally the Green Monster. I mean how can you hide in the damn wall for one hundred years when Manny is always in there trying to take a leak. Are you telling me that Manny, Mike Greenwell, Jim Rice, Yaz and Ted Williams “never” saw Wally in all those years? We will also have to request a full security sweep of Tropicana Field in Tampa and that “Raymond”, the Devil Rays mascot, be stripped searched with a full body cavity search. This can be done by Orsillo to prove his loyalty to President Remy.

Also on the list of possible enemies and shady characters and in need of a body cavity search or at very least an anal probe with a hot rod:
George Steinbrenner
The Bird (that damn Orioles mascot)
The Phillie Phanatic
Grady Little
D.Baxter the Bobcat (Diamondbacks)
Dinger (Rockies)
Mr. Red
Don Zimmer
Billy the Marlin
Peter Angelos
Dan Douquette
Mr. and Mrs. Met
Bernie Brewer
Roger Clemens
Fredbird the Redbird
LMonstro
The San Diego Chicken
Chief Wahoo
Joe Buck
Tim McCarver
Joe Morgan
The Rally Monkey
Mike Benjamin
Mariner Moose
Rangers Captain (who maybe seeking revenge for comments made earlier this season), Johnny Damon and BJ Birdie.

We would have included the Yankee mascot, Dandy, but he was beaten into submission by a crowd during a game in 1980 and was never seen again.

All Hail the Rem Dawg, as he leads Red Sox Nation into the future.

I am going to go out on a limb here and say Dukes is probably done in Tampa.

Because I don’t feel like getting sued or taking any chances, head over to TMZ.com to see the photo or here for more photos.

I think the headline says it all. Head over to Yahoo for the whole story.

Freddy Krueger Julian Tavarez can stop looking over his shoulder now as the Red Sox have officially removed Jon Lester from the DL and optioned him to Triple-A Pawtucket. This comes on the heels of being summoned to Boston today to meet with Terry Francona, John Farrell and Theo Epstein.

After throwing on the side, the decision was made for him to continue pitching in Pawtucket. If there’s any consolation to this, he will no longer have any restrictions on him. It had been expected that he would make one more start before any decision was made but obviously the brain trust in Beantown thought this was best.

In his 7 starts with Pawtucket this year, he is 1-2 in 7 starts with a 2.01 ERA.

I have been scouring the internet the past few days to see what’s going on with this whole canceling business. Their are plenty of rumors out there as to why Tennessee canceled it. Pat Summitt has been heard from saying it was the athletic department’s decision and meanwhile, Geno Auriemma has only said that he can’t talk about it. There are rumblings it is because UCONN broke some rules in their recruitment of Maya Moore but that remains unknown.

Here is a look at Summitt’s remarks:

“It was a decision made by the University of Tennessee – Joan Cronan, Dr. Petersen and myself,” Summitt said. “It was the University of Tennessee that made the announcement and made the decision.”

“It’s been a great series,” she said. “There’s more to women’s basketball than just this game. If you look at the growth of our game, this has been a big part of it. But this past year, you had Duke, North Carolina, Maryland and all those ACC matchups. I think women’s basketball is in a whole different state, in a positive way. You’ve got a lot of quality teams and quality games.”

More to women’s basketball than just that game Pat? Did you realize that the rivalry was voted the best rivalry in women’s college basketball recently. Is your athletic department happy about losing a potential big revenue game?

Whether or not you are fan of UCONN or Tennessee, it is one of the games in women’s basketball that you would probably turn on just because of the rivalry between the two schools. But now for whatever reason, it is no more.

Even ESPN tried to save the game but to no avail.

It was their first matchup on ESPN, that started this rivalry.

“That first game is often referred to as the dawn of a new, more popular era of women’s basketball,” said Mike Soltys, ESPN’s vice president of domestic network communications. “There was more media at Gampel Pavilion that day than there certainly had ever been before or after for any regular-season game.”

“The series was a known commodity for the casual sports fan who may not have ordinarily been interested in women’s basketball,” Soltys said. “The games were quality, the personalities of the coaches were strong and they often met at crucial times, particularly in the NCAA Tournament. It became the showcase rivalry in the sport and we were happy to have the majority of them [on ESPN].”

“There are other teams that have emerged. There are top games that we will put together, but it still doesn’t diminish our disappointment about the end of [UConn-Tennessee],” Soltys said. “Both schools and conferences know our interest in this rivalry. And it will be something we will revisit in the future with all the parties involved.”

When the Worldwide leader can’t save it, you know it’s doomed. Continue reading →