Yawn! Excuse as I shake the cobwebs out here after watching the UConn women destroy yet another team.

Freshman sensation Maya Moore led three Huskies in double figures with 17 points as UConn easily defeated the BYU Cougars 80-34 at the Hartford Civic Center. Moore’s 17 points came in just 15 minutes of action tonight and was just short of her 18.6 ppg average.

Mel Thomas started out the night shooting cold but heated up later in the game and finished with 14 points. Tina Charles rounded out the Huskies in double figures as she had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Shawnee Slade led the Cougars with 10 points on 4 of 11 shooting. Coriann Wood added 8 points and 5 rebounds to the losing cause.

It was an ugly start for the Cougars as UConn (6-0) took advantage of turnovers and got out to a 23-0 lead. BYU (3-3) finally got on the board with 10:16 left in the first half when Mallary Carling hit a jumper. UConn would go into the locker room with a 42-11 lead, holding BYU to 16% (4 of 25) shooting in the first half.

UConn came out firing as Thomas began to find her touch from 3-point land. The Huskies just continued to roll it on the Cougars as they weren’t able to match the athleticism of UConn’s players.

The Huskies will next take the court on Wednesday when they face Geno Auriemma’s old boss, Deb Ryan, and her Virginia Cavaliers at the Hartford Civic Center at 7 PM. After that the Huskies will be off for exams and will return to the court on December 17th against South Carolina at Gampel Pavilion.

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Seeing as most of America doesn’t have the ability of watching the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys face off the Big D tonight I thought I’d do everyone a giant public service and do a live blog of the game.  I mean after all it’s the first battle of 10-1 teams since the Giants and Niners in 1990 and this game will also determine homefield advantage for the NFC Championship should these two teams meet again. 

So in the words of Terrell Owen’s “Gethcha popcorn ready” because we get to it after the jump:

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Here is the video from the dash-cam of a Jupiter, FL police car on the night that Tony La Russa was arrested for DUI during spring training back on March 22nd.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1yIqvePctPA[/youtube]

This link will bring you the DUI interview conducted by the Jupiter Police. It’s just over 10 minutes long.

The video after the jump has a little bit more of the field sobriety test as well as in the police car itself.

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I just posted this in the comments of another post but I felt it was worthy of it’s own post as it pertains to the trade talks between the Red Sox and Twins regarding Johan Santana.

This report comes from Buster Olney of ESPN.com:

The Red Sox and Twins are discussing the framework of a Johan Santana deal that would have Boston sending four players to Minnesota in return for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, including center fielder Coco Crisp, pitcher Jon Lester and minor-league shortstop Jed Lowrie, the trio that would to anchor the deal.
Red Sox pitcher Michael Bowden has been discussed as a possible fourth player, sources say, but the identity of the fourth player is in flux.

Even if the Red Sox and Twins agree on the framework for a deal — and as of early Thursday afternoon, that hadn’t happened — Boston would still face an enormous hurdle to complete the contract. Santana, who will be 29 at the outset of next season, has a full no-trade clause and is expected to ask for a market ceiling-type of contract of six years and about $150 million. No pitcher has ever received a multi-year deal for more than $18.6 million a year. Any team that agrees with Minnesota on the framework of a deal would probably ask the Twins for a 72-hour window to negotiate an extension with Santana.

I know everyone has differing opinions on this trade but I think this is the right deal for the Sox. They don’t give up Clay Buchholz and Jacoby Ellsbury. It would be sad to see Jon Lester go but baseball is a business and life goes on.

To see the whole Buster Olney article, you can catch it here.

According to an article in the Pioneer Press, the Red Sox are the frontrunners in the race for Johan Santana.

A little birdie says the Boston Red Sox have become the favorite in the Johan Santana trade sweepstakes.

The Twins would receive four players for the Twins’ two-time Cy Young Award winner, including center fielder Coco Crisp, 28.

Others would be shortstop prospect Jed Lowry, 23; left-handed pitcher Jon Lester, 23; and right-handed pitcher Justin Masterson, 22.

Before a deal could be made, the Red Sox would have to have time to negotiate a contract extension with Santana, 28, who can become a free agent after next season and could have a market value as high as $150 million over six years.

Lowry did not play in the major leagues this year but is considered ready and is a good-fielding shortstop who also can hit. Lowry had a slugging percentage of .500 at Class AA and Class AAA this year.

Lester made a comeback from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma a year ago and is said to be cancer-free.

Masterson, 6 feet 6, 245 pounds, had 59 strikeouts in 58 innings at Class AA Portland.

The New York Yankees don’t have the prospects available who the Twins figure have a reasonable chance to play in the major leagues by the end of 2008.

That’s very interesting to me as last night it seemed like the Yankees had the upper hand in this. Stay tuned folks, the hot stove is officially warming up now.

Just want to start out by saying that posts from me today will probably be on the lighter side as my DSL is getting turned off because my cable modem is being installed. Comcast has a great deal going on right now with their $99 Triple Play package by offering a free HD converter box and HBO for a year. Since my three combined services were costing me more than that, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. But enough of the talk about me, let’s get to the meat of this post.

Things are heating up on the Johan Santana trade front. The Minnesota Twins are adamant about Jacoby Ellsbury being included in any trade package while the Red Sox are not willing to include him. Clay Buchholz has had his name mentioned in the rumors as well. The Red Sox have been trying to get the Twins to take Coco Crisp in the deal but with the Twins trading for Delmon Young from the Rays, this might not be a viable option anymore.

I fully expect Santana to be moved by the end of next week when the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville end.

Starting on December 8th, the Red Sox are putting select tickets on sale. They will make the perfect gift for the Red Sox fan in your family. Make sure you buy them a Red Sox jacket as well, since most of the games are for April. You can also register at redsox.com for a chance to be able to purchase the tickets at Fenway Park.

Ian Browne from MLB.com has put together a checklist for the Red Sox during those upcoming meetings and that leads off the links for today.

Red Sox Winter Meetings checklist [redsox.com]

Deal or no deal [Boston Herald]

Goal is to come back strong [Boston Globe]

Santana sweepstakes heating up [SI.com]

Lester finishes triumphant season and now stands tall with Conigliaro [Pro Jo]

Sox to offer purchasing opportunity to fans for select ’08 games [redsox.com]

With the women’s basketball polls coming out on Tuesday and the men’s coming out on Monday, this feature will probably start appearing on Wednesday during the college basketball season. Most of the times it will probably only contain the polls but I will do my best to keep everyone informed on other happenings.

Arizona head coach Lute Olsen returned to practice on Monday and actually ran most of practice. As to when he will re-take his full-time duties back from interim coach Kevin O’Neill remains to be seen.

Clemson got some good news when they found out that James Mays only had a sprained hip and not a fractured hip suffered in a game last week. Clemson coach Oliver Purnell thinks he will be back when the Tigers head to Puerto Rico for a tournament there.

Air Force head coach Jeff Reynolds got reprimanded by Mountain West officials after he criticized the refs in their 59-57 loss to Montana this past weekend. He was not happy that the calls were consistently called for both teams.

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Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester was awarded the Tony Conigliaro Award, presented annually to a major league player who has overcome adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination and courage.

Just one year ago at this time, Lester was undergoing chemotherapy. Just a few months later, he was one of the first players at Ft. Myers for spring training.

Lester pitched in the minors to start the season then rejoined the Red Sox in July where he posted a 4-0 record with a 4.57 ERA. He was the winning pitcher in Game 4 of the World Series.

His teammate, Mike Lowell, won the award in 1999 after his battle with testicular cancer. Other winners of the award include Bo Jackson, Jim Abbott, Freddy Sanchez among numerous others.

Other players nominated were Dmitri Young of the Washington Nationals, Al Reyes of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Joe Borowski of the Cleveland Indians, Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins, Andy Phillips of the New York Yankees, Josh Hamilton of the Cincinnati Reds and Doug Brocail of the San Diego Padres.

Lester received the award in a press conference this afternoon at Fenway Park and will be honored by the Boston Baseball Writers’ Association at their annual dinner on January 17th. If you’re interested in attending the event, click here for more information.

Ah yes, the end of the regular season in college football is almost upon us and that means two things. One, teams find out their bowl assignments if eligible. Two, if you’re a head coach whose team didn’t quite perform up to expectations, you might be looking for a job right now.

Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron was one of the casualties as his squad went 3-9 and 0-8 in the SEC. It was the first time in 25 years that the Rebels didn’t win a game in the SEC. In his 3 years, he was 10-25.

Don’t worry though Ole Miss fans, the job has already been filled. Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt resigned from his post with the Razorbacks and was immediately offered and accepted the Ole Miss job. Nutt’s squad finished the season 8-4, which included an upset of then #1 LSU last weekend.

Nebraska interim AD Tom Osborne canned their head coach Bill Callahan after four seasons at the helm. Callahan was 27-22 in his four seasons, including 5-7 this year. His season ended with an embarrassing 65-51 loss to Colorado.

Dennis Franchione stepped down from his post at Texas A&M after a tumultuous five years. He finished 32-28 in his five years. The Aggies have already replaced him with Mike Sherman, the former coach of the Green Bay Packers. Sherman had been an assistant coach at A&M before heading to the Packers to be an assistant in 1996. He is currently an assistant coach with the Houston Texans. Sherman will finish out the season in Houston before heading to College Station.

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The Red Sox are one of the two major players in talks with the Minnesota Twins about some pitcher they have named Johan Santana or something like that. The Twins are asking for Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz and some other prospects in exchange for Santana. The Red Sox don’t want to part with Ellsbury and have been offering the Twins, Coco Crisp.

So what does this mean for us in Red Sox Nation? It means that we will continue hear different rumors of players that may or may not be with the Sox next year. It could turn out the Yankees sweep the Twins off their feet with an offer or maybe even the Mets. What I do know is that the winter meetings are on horizon, starting Monday in Nashville and the rumors will get even hotter until then.

Other than that, things are pretty quiet. Big Papi anticipates he will be ready for spring training as he starts his rehab from the knee surgery he recently underwent.

There was a pretty good article from Yahoo! Sports about the best GM in the game on Tuesday, Theo Epstein and that will lead off our links for this Wednesday morning.

Two Series titles evidence of growing Theo-logy [Yahoo! Sports]

Wanted: Santana [Boston Herald]

Steinberg is joining Dodgers as marketer [Pro Jo]

Boston slugger David Ortiz anticipates quick rebound from surgery [AP via Boston Globe]

As goes Steinberg so goes Larry? Sox brass in flux [Boston Herald]