It’s about time UConn Huskies running back Donald Brown got a little national recognition.

Donald Brown

Brown was named 1 of 10 semifinalists for the 2008 Doak Walker Award which is given to the top running back in the country.  The award is presented by The Guaranty Bank SMU Athletic Forum.

The Award is named after three-time SMU All-American running back and 1948 Heisman Trophy winner Doak Walker. Walker, who also punted, returned kicks and kicked extra points, led the Mustangs to two Southwest Conference Championships. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions and led the league in scoring his rookie year. During his six years with the Lions, he led the team to two NFL championships and was chosen All-Pro four times. Walker is a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

The 2008 Doak Walker finalists will be named on November 24th and the winner will be announced during The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Show on December 11th.

Brown currently leads the country averaging 156.22 yards a game and has rushed for 1,406 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is also one of the semifinalists for the Maxwell Award which is given to the top college football player in the land.

Here are the semifinalists:

• Donald Brown (Jr.), Connecticut
• Glen Coffee (Jr.), Alabama
• Tyrell Fenroy (Sr.), Louisiana-Lafayette
• Shonn Greene (Jr.), Iowa
• Kendall Hunter (So.), Oklahoma State
• LeSean McCoy (So.), Pittsburgh
• Knowshon Moreno (So.), Georgia
• Javon Ringer (Sr.), Michigan State
• Jacquizz Rodgers (Fr.), Oregon State
• Evan Royster (So.), Penn State

Tampa Bay Rays skipper Joe Maddon and Chicago Cubs manager Lou Pinella were named American League and National League Managers of the Year respectively this afternoon.

This is the first Manager of the Year award for Maddon who took the Rays from last place to first place in the AL East. They beat the reigning World Series Champions at the time, the Boston Red Sox, to get to the World Series where they fell to Philadelphia Phillies.

This is the third time Pinella has won the award, his first in the National League. He won the award twice with the Seattle Mariners in 1995 and 2001.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona finished 4th in the AL voting.

Jonathan Papelbon graces one of five regional covers of USA Today Sports Weekly’s Baseball Insider Special Edition that hits newstands today.

If you believe what a source of ESPN.com’s Michael Smith says, then yes New England Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas is done for the season after breaking his left forearm during the 1st half of yesterday’s win over the Buffalo Bills.

Linebacker Adalius Thomas, who has started all nine games for the Patriots and is tied for the team lead with five sacks, suffered a broken left forearm in the first half of the Patriots 20-10 win, according to sources. The sources believe the injury is likely season ending.

“It’s not good. He’s probably done [for the season],” said one source

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick usually recites the same shtick during his postgame press conferences but yesterday he took exception to a question from one of the media members.

Here is the question that was asked:

Was it a concern that the score was so close you could not rest your starters for the short week coming up against the Jets?

Belichick’s response:

Put the Coor’s Light signage behind him and you’ve got yourself an instant television commercial.

Jerome Dyson led 5 UConn Huskies in double figures with 18 points as they went on to beat the UMass-Lowell River Hawks 82-63 at the XL Center in Hartford, CT.

Dyson had 18 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists after scoring just 1 point in the first exhibition game. Jeff Adrien and A.J. Price both had 13 points with Adrien adding 8 rebounds.  Hasheem Thabeet and Kemba Walker added 11 points each with Walker tying Dyson with a game-high 5 assists.

Kyle Caiola led the River Hawks with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point land. Victor Colon added 15 points and Ali Kannan had 10 points. Max Herman pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds for UMass-Lowell.

The Huskies started the game hot from the floor as they made their first seven shots to get out to an 18-9 lead. They pushed the lead to 17 points at 29-12 but UMass-Lowell relied on some great 3-point shooting to get it back to 11 points at 33-22. The Huskies took a 46-33 lead into the locker room.

The Huskies put away the game in the second half with a 21-3 run with the score at 50-41.

UConn will now have to wait until Friday night when they will open their 2008-09 regular season with a game against the Western Carolina Catamounts. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM and the game will be broadcast online at ESPN360.com.

UMass-Lowell River Hawks @ UConn Huskies 11.9.08 box score

Click replay on the live blog for a game recap of the Celtics 101-89 win.

Welcome to the Milwaukee Bucks-Boston Celtics live game blog.  The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and the live blog will start slightly before that.  if you’re early make sure you come back at game time.

This is basically a “test run” for us here at Sox & Dawgs to make sure we have everything worked out for Sunday’s Patriots live blog.

Even though it’s a test run feel free to jump in, Ian and I think you’ll really enjoy this new way of live blogging.

To partake during the course of the game all you need to do is pick a screen name, enter it in the box below and feel free to jump in and chat along during the game.

If you were the NFL Network you couldn’t do much worse than having Bryant Gumbel call your football games the last few seasons.   He was awful.  I’d have rather been probed anally by a hot curling iron than to have listened to Gumbel call football.

Fast forward to 2008, Gumbel stepped down from the NFLN coverage and was replaced by New York Giants play-by-play man Bob Papa who was paired with Gumbel’s former partner Cris Collinsworth.  Tonight the duo made their 2008 debut calling the Denver Broncos-Cleveland Browns game.  While I don’t get NFLN on my cable tier (it is available for added fee that I refuse to pay) I did get a chance through the NFL.com site to get live look ins through out the game online of the game coverage.  I have come away impressed and a fan of Papa and Collinsworth.

The pair were truly very good.  First off there is no better football guy on TV than Collinsworth, other than possibly Ron Jaworski of ESPN.  Poor Collinsworth was dragged down by Gumbel like he had a ton of cinder blocks tied to his leg and he was perched on the edge of the Tobin Bridge just waiting for someone to push him off.  He is much better as an in game analyst than a studio guy and I am surprised one of the major networks covering the NFL hasn’t made a move to get him in the booth.

Papa, who I’ve never really heard call a game before, was better than I could have imagined.  Granted he wasn’t being compared to much in Gumbel but if this is how he goes about calling a game he is a rising star.  Well prepared, knowledgeable he called the game efficiently and allowed Collinsworth to shine.  The Joe Buck’s, Mike Tirico’s, Al Michaels’ and Jim Nantz’s of the world have nothing on Papa and if I were given a choice at this point in time I’d Papa over any of them.

If this was a preview of next week’s New York Jets-New England Patriots game fans of both teams won’t have anything to bitch about when it comes to the call of the game.

The Boston Globe has learned that Dustin Pedroia has won the 2008 American League Gold Glove at second base.  A source from MLB confirmed it.  He is the only Red Sox player to win this season.  The official announcement comes at 4 p.m.

We at Sox & Dawgs are going to live blog the big Bills-Patriots game this Sunday afternoon.  In the past we did live blogs the old fashioned way where we’d type some commentary and then continually publish it.  Well this Sunday Ian and I are throwing our hats into the “Cover it Live” ring. 

Using this great program you will be able to live blog along with us.  There’s no need for passwords, downloads or anything.  You just show up at Sox&Dawgs on Sunday just before game time and go to the live blog post and join us.  All you will need to do is create a user name for the live blog, it’s that easy.  It works very similar to an instant message.

We’d love to have you join us even if it’s just for a short period time or if you’re a Bills fan you’re welcome too.  We will have more on the live blog as we get closer and I’ll provide the link to the live blog in the Tailgating Tidbits late Sunday morning prior to the 1 p.m. start.

I have personally used this program twice and it is the balls.  We hope to see you on Sunday! Just look for the Live Blog post on Sunday before game time and jump in.