According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com, the Denver Broncos are set to name New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as their new head coach.

The opening with the Broncos came about when owner Pat Bowlen fired longtime coach Mike Shanahan after 14 years on the job.

McDaniels has been with the Patriots since 2001 and had been the Patriots offensive coordinator for the past 3 years. He’s the lastest Bill Belichick disciple to be named a head coach in the NFL.

I was just getting ready to go head to bed when I came across this little tidbit about Scott Boras and the Boston Red Sox from Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald.

The Sox, meanwhile, are, at least for now, done with Boras. One well-placed source said the club will never deal with him again unless it can be guaranteed that talks are being conducted honestly. We would take that threat a little more seriously if Boras’ clientele list were to shrink dramatically, but since that is not realistic, we will take it as a sign of just how badly the club felt it got stung by lies from Boras. They are in a “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” mode right now, with the Teixeira talks feeling like the last straw to them.

That makes the case for Jason Varitek even more compelling. Two of the remaining free agent catchers are Boras clients, Ivan Rodriguez and Varitek. To me, there’s only one catcher on that remaining list, Gregg Zaun, who can help the Red Sox on a daily basis and it appears that he’s going to the Baltimore Orioles.

So what are the Red Sox to do. Varitek isn’t going to talk to the Red Sox without Boras. From the above quote, the Red Sox don’t really want to deal with Boras unless they have to. Do the Red Sox make an offer to Varitek and tell him take it or leave it? Something tells me that’s what the Red Sox will do and if he says no, they’ll continue to pursue a trade for a younger catcher.

It’s too bad that all players can’t be like Dustin Pedroia when it comes to agents.

“They work for you,” Pedroia said. “If you get an offer that works for you, you’re signing it, your agent isn’t. I got to a point and I told him, ‘This is what I want. And if we get that, I’m signing it, whether you like it or don’t.’ In the end, you’re the boss. You’re his boss. He works for you. But a lot of players trust their agent maybe a little too much. Every person is different.”

Thank you to everyone who has asked former UConn Husky Mel Thomas a question. I have closed the comments out and forwarded the questions along so that she can answer them when she has time. Once I get the questions back, I will post them along with the winner of her book. Once again thank you to everyone for the great questions.

Fernando Perez was just a rookie this season for Tampa Bay Rays but his speed played a pivotal role for them down the stretch. He was on-hand for today’s Hot Stove, Cool Music Roundtable and talked about his experiences against the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS at Fenway Park.

“Fans [at Fenway] are very, very savvy,” Perez said. “Everybody seems to be indulging in an experience as if they are at church or a party, some sort of mix of the two. That’s really impressive how your fans enjoy it. There was a man after Game 4 of the ALCS who was standing next to the dugout and he noticed we were winning going into Game 5, at which point we could have won it.

“He notices that we were smiling a little bit, having a good time. And he looked over and he said, ‘Soon you will know what it feels like to lose three games in a row.’ I will never forget the moment, because he seemed so serious and so sincere. The next day, of course, was Game 5, which, to me, was the most horrific sporting experience of my whole life. I went from thinking about what I was going to do for the rest of the week before the World Series to thinking that [the Red Sox] were going to do it all again.

“That experience, in that seventh inning, I didn’t play, but I was getting ready to pinch-run. I remember stretching, being sick to my stomach while [Boston] just got hit after hit after hit and it was [contagious] throughout the ballpark. It was very, very sickening.”

Yeah that pretty much sums it up for the Fenway playoff experience that we are used to up here.

I was going through some of the quotes from today’s Hot Stove, Cool Music roundtable discussion and this one caught my eye from Boston Red Sox skipper Terry Francona. Of course it’s probably because it’s about Manny Ramirez.

“In ’04, when we were playing St. Louis in the World Series, Manny was hitting and he seemed to be jawing back and forth with the catcher [Yadier Molina],” Francona said. “There hadn’t even been a pitch thrown. You could kind of see, there was a possible altercation starting. Chuck Meriweather was the umpire and he kind of looked at me so I kind of ran out as fast I can, which isn’t very fast.

“But the last thing I wanted was for Manny to get thrown out of the game. I looked at Manny and I looked at the catcher and they’re going back and forth in Spanish. Manny looks at me and says, ‘Papi, they say I’m stealing their signs.’ I look at the umpire and I said, ‘Chuck, Manny doesn’t even know our signs.”‘

Does anyone really think Manny ever knew what the signs were with the Red Sox?

If you’re looking for the 2009 Final Rankings click here

The final NCAA Polls are out and as expected the Florida Gators are on top in both polls.

There was some thought that the Utah Utes might overtake the Gators in the AP Poll but they didn’t. They actually did receive 16 first place votes though. And even though, the coaches are obligated to vote for the winner of the BCS National Championship game, it’s believed that Utah coach Kyle Whittingham gave the Utes their only first place vote in the coaches poll.

Maybe to no surprise to Texas Longhorns fans, the Longhorns finished above the Oklahoma Sooners in both polls.

Another surprise, the UConn Huskies finished with 2 votes in the coaches poll.

A full look at the polls after the jump.

Continue reading →

Former Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Millar stopped by the MLB Network studios to talk with Harold Reynolds about hitting at Fenway Park.

He gives a good look at what you have to do as a right-handed hitter and a left-handed hitter on how to use the Green Monster to your advantage.

After playing for the Baltimore Orioles for the past 3 season, Millar is currently a free agent.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/default10.flv w=512 h=288]

to Anthony of the Oriole Post.

WAYS1.

Congratulations to WAYS1 for winning the 3rd Annual SOX & Dawgs College Football Pick’em Contest. As the new champion, they will receive a guest post here on SOX & Dawgs. As always anything goes.

It was a strong fight as WAYS1 came from behind down the stretch to overtake Adam. Ladd B made a valiant effort but was hampered by the Ball State loss down the stretch as was Adam.

Thank you to everyone for participating in the contest.

And phew, I don’t have to rename the contest.

Here are your final standings: