Category Archives: Uncategorised

Mohegan Sun May Rise In The Big East

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It is being reported by the Associated Press that the Big East Conference is looking into moving the Women’s Basketball Tournament to the Mohegan Sun Arena at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, CT.

The Big East, which has held the tournament at the Hartford Civic Center the last two years and is booked at the venue through 2009, has had trouble selling tickets at the 16,000 seat arena. The host school, UConn has in the past continually sold out both of their home courts, the Civic Center and their on campus home the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion. But for some reason the success of the UConn program does not translate into ticket sales for the conference tournament.

The Mohegan Sun Arena is being considered because of its size (10,000 seats), the proximity to Big East Schools, locker room and hotel room availability as well as fan access. Gampel Pavilion, which was used for the tournament in the past, is probably not a viable option as it has poor fan access, hotels are tough to come by and the lack of space needed for the working media and conference officials. Hartford, as well as other locations, remains an option for hosting the event.

UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, who has a restaurant at the casino, said he sees no problem with holding the event at a gambling establishment.

“Say what you want, if you are going to take money from them as corporate sponsors, you can’t have it both ways,” Auriemma said. “If you are going to let beer companies sponsor you, and you are going to let casinos be corporate sponsors, then you can’t have it the other way and say, ‘Well we’re not going to play any games there because there is gambling there.'”

There is no sports book at the casino but with all the NCAA does to educate it’s student-athletes about the dangers of gambling, holding a conference tournament in a casino seems like a bad idea to me.

The Big East has no policy against holding events at a casino.

Announcement Concerning Beasts of the East, THKC

 

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As many of you already know, I help produce two internet radio shows on Blogtalkradio.com with Jason of My Baseball Bias and Anthony of the Oriole Post. We have now been asked by the MVN Network to broadcast our shows back to back on their new radio outlet. Needless to say, we agreed and are psyched about this new venture.Here is how it will work –WHEN TO LISTEN

  • Beasts of the East – A Radio Show on the AL EAST Division can be heard every Wednesday night now from 7:00 p.m. ET – 8:00 p.m. ET.
  • The Hits Keep Coming Radio Show- Discussing the Major Topics of the Week in MLB can be heard right after the AL EAST Show every Wednesday from 8:00 p.m. ET – 9:00 p.m. ET.

WHERE TO LISTEN

You can listen to either show now at Blogtalkradio.com or mvn.com. Below are the links:

Each show will still be available for you to download or add to iTunes as a podcast. Details on this to follow.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me @ ian [at] ianbethune.com.

Thanks to all of you who have listened to us in the past and we hope you’ll continue to join us every Wednesday night from 7:00-9:00 p.m. ET.

Danish Hooligan Attacks Referee

You may or may not know this but I am a soccer fan. Or as you that aren’t in the US call it, football. So I do enjoy watching football a lot. It’s a sport I grew up watching and playing all the way through my formative years. I even played a year in college before knee injuries derailed me.

I was looking through the results for the Euro 2008 championship qualifiers and noticed this.

In the 89th minute with the game tied at 3 between Sweden and Denmark , a Danish defender was given a red card for punching a Swedish player. As a result the Swedes were awarded a penalty kick. A Danish fan didn’t like the call and tried to attack the referee on the field. Luckily for the ref, a Danish player was there and stopped the hooligan from hitting the ref.

The ref and his linesman then called the game and then it was announced by the Danish Soccer Federation that Sweden was awarded a 3-0 forfeit victory.

Here is the video of the incident.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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Lowell Uses Bat, Shoulder & Knee To Help Defeat Yanks 11-6

Patriots newest linebackerMike Lowell had three hits, including a HR, 4 rbi’s, a shoulder knockdown and an accidental take-out of Doug Mientkiewicz as the Red Sox rallied to defeat the Yankees 11-6 on Saturday.

On a day that started with no suspension for Scott Proctor and warnings issued to both teams, things were relatively calm til Lowell decided to play linebacker on Robinson Cano in the fourth inning. With Lowell on first, Jason Varitek hit a grounder to Cano at second that Cano fielded. Instead of throwing to Jeter covering at second, Cano tried to tag out Lowell but was greeted with a shoulder to the body, knocking Cano to the ground. However, much to his credit, Cano was able to get Varitek at first by a step. The play is completely legal but you can be sure it raised a few eyebrows in the Yankees dugout.

Curt Schilling was on the hill today for the Sox and he looked ok. Nothing spectacular. Just ok. I think the long layoff with the rain delay, then the long inning probably took its toll on him. Schill got through the first only allowing a double to Derek Jeter.

It was much of the same thing for Mike Mussina in the first. He allowed singles to Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz but got Manny to ground into a double play to end the inning. Pedroia’s single extended his hitting streak to 13 games.

Schilling retired the first two batters of the second inning with relative ease. But then he left a fastball up and Melky Cabrera planted one around Pesky’s Pole, giving them a 1-0 lead.

The Red Sox got the run back in the 3rd inning playing some small ball. Wily Mo Peña led off the inning with a double and was promptly sacrificed over to third by Coco Crisp. Julio Lugo brought him in with a groundout tying the game at 1.

The Sox would add two more runs in the 4th inning after a 29 minute rain delay. With rain falling, Big Papi drew a walk and he advanced to third base on a Manny double. The umpires then called for the tarp. When they came back, Youk drew a walk to load up the bases for Lowell. Lowell greeted Mussina with a single that scored Big Papi, putting the Sox up 2-1. Then the incident with Cano and Lowell happened, as mentioned above. The play though brought in Manny from third, making it 3-1 Sox.

Schilling was given a little extra time to warm up for the 5th inning because of the rain delay. He cruised right through the inning.

The Sox threatened again in the 5th inning loading up the bases but Youk flew out to center.

The Sox were up a long time that inning and it showed for Schilling. He struggled with his command mightily, in my opinion Curt if you stop by. Hideki Matsui reached on a single and then Schill walked AROD. With Hip hip Jorge Posada at the plate, Terry Francona was deciding whether or not to make a pitching change. He decided he wanted Schill to face Jorge as a lefty instead of as a righty. Tito isn’t wrong too often but this time he was. Posada crushed a ball into the Yankees bullpen, putting the Yankees up 4-3. All this happened without an out in the inning. The homer chased Schill from the game. It should be interesting what he has to say about this start and hopefully the series so far at his blog.

Javier Lopez came in for Schill and lately he hasn’t been pitching too bad. Today wasn’t one of those days. He got Cano to ground out but then Melky unleashed a double to deep right center and came around to score on a Mientkiewicz single, putting the Yanks up by 2 at 5-3. He settled down and got Wil Nieves to ground into an inning ending double play.

Schilling’s line looked like this: 5 innings, 9 hits, 4 runs (all earned), 1 walk and 2 strikeouts on only 75 pitches.

The Sox wasted no time getting the runs back in their half of the 6th. Lowell led off with a homerun that barely got over the Green Monster. Varitek followed him him with a homerun that landed in the black tarped seats in center to tie the game at 5 and chased Mussina from the game. Last night’s goat, Scott Proctor, came in and Peña to strikeout. Coco then singled and stole second while Lugo was at the plate. Lugo grounded out and Pedroia flew out to end the inning.

Lopez came out for the 7th inning and go the one batter he faced, Abreu, to strikeout. Tito showed some confidence in Joel Piñero by bringing him into a close game again. Unfortunately, Jeter greeted him with a homerun, putting the Yanks on top at 6-5. He then got Matsui on strikeout but walked AROD and was promptly replaced by Hideki “Darkman” Okajima. Darkman got Posada to fly out.

The Sox took advantage of Proctor’s control problems and struck for 5 runs that were all charged to him. Big Papi led off with a double and then Manny was intentionally walked. Youk drew a walk to load the bases up again for Lowell. Lowell hit a grounder to Cano at second, who threw to Jeter at second to get Manny but Jeter’s relay throw pulled Mientkiewicz towards the outfield side of the bag and caused Lowell to accidently hit Mientkiewicz with his knee into Dougie’s head. Mientkiewicz was knocked silly and with the ball loose, Manny scored making it 8-6 and Lowell went to second on Jeter’s error.

Mientkiewicz just layed there and he definitely was out of it. He was helped to the medical cart and was brought off the field. He was taken to the hospital for further tests. It was a freak play and I am sure Lowell felt bad for what happen. He was, in no way, trying to take Dougie out at first. The Sox crowd gave a nice applause to Dougie as he left the field. Josh Phelps came into replace him.

The inning wasn’t over yet though. Varitek was intentionaly walked so the Yanks could face Wily Mo. Wily grounded a ball to Jeter that he booted, loading up the bases for Crisp. Coco brought home Lowell with a single putting the Sox up 8-6. Proctor was then replaced by Brian Bruney. Lugo followed him with a sacrifice fly that scored Varitek. Pedroia followed that with his third single of the night and it brought Wily Mo in making it 10-6 Sox. Mike Myers came in and got Big Papi to ground out to third, ending the big inning for the Sox.

Darkman cruised through the 8th inning, setting the side down in order.

Luis Vizcaino came in for Myers and got Manny to strikeout. This brought Youk to the plate with his 23 game hitting streak on the line. Unfortunately, he didn’t get a hit but was walked instead, his third of the day. With Youk running on the pitch, Lowell drove a double to center that scored Youk, providing the final margin of 11-6.

Jonathan Papelbon came on in the 9th for the Sox and only allowed a walk to Bobby Abreu. Darkman got the win, which was his first here in the States. Josh Beckett goes tomorrow for the Sox and he will be opposed by Andy Pettitte. Game time is 8:05 ET and the game will be on ESPN.

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Ouch My Groin!! Rocket’s Launch Grounded

According to about a 100 sources by now, Roger Clemens will miss his first start of the year of with a strained groin.

During the rain delay, I ran out to run a quick errand and John Sterling had said Roger’s groin was fatigued. Anyone else ever hear of a fatigued groin. Is it from overuse or lack of.

Isn’t nice to see $28 million buy you a broken down old man.

The rumors are that Kei Igawa will pitch for the Yanks now on Monday in Chicago.

UPDATE: It won’t be Igawa starting as he made his start in Triple-A on Sunday.

Saturday Salute to Bloggers

Peter had his friend stop by again to give more memories on the 1967 Boston Red Sox Impossible Dream Team over at Peter’s Red Sox Forever.

Lizzy at Babes Love Baseball presents to you MLB Players and who should be their mistresses.

Matt Ufford from With Leather was on FOX News talking about Allison Stokke.

Anthony over at the Oriole Post gives you his views on the Allison Stokke situation.

The Essentialist says that Red Sox announcer Don Orsillo is a disgrace to Red Sox Nation. I highly disagree on that one.

J.D. at SporTech Matter has his weekly Trent Green update.

Jason at My Baseball Bias talks about the Giambino going on the DL.

Tim over at The Red Sox Times wants to know if there is a Curse of 13.

Josh Q. Public has a video on Bill Clement, NHL anaylst, getting punk’d.

Christine from Boston Red Thoughts wants to know how you say “that sucked” in Japanese. (それは洗いました)

Yankees Chick gives her take on the AROD incident in her latest video.

The beautiful Ladies… are doing a hot blogger contest. I am guessing it’s males.

The week that was Deadspin. Check out the picture.

And last but not certainly least, the always entertaining Fitzy from the Townie News gives you his latest “Wicked Pissah” webcast.

As always, Fitzy’s videos are NSFW.

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