David “Big Papi” Ortiz has won his fourth straight Louisville Silver Slugger Award, which is a record for designated hitters. For the season, Big Papi hit .332 with 35 homers and 117 RBIs. Here is a look at the rest of the winners from both leagues.

It’s been a long while since we’ve since Clinton Portis dressed up as one of his flamboyant characters. Well that has changed as yesterday Portis made an appearance as “Choo-Choo”. So as Redskins quarterback Jason Campbell walked by and said, “he’s back!!”.

I guess all it took was for Portis to have a good game rushing (196 yards last Sunday) to bring back the characters.

 

The Patriots on Tuesday released tight end Marcellus Rivers for the fourth time since the season started.  Rivers played in three games this season with New England and had no catches. He was previously signed by the Patriots on August 8th and released on September 1st, re-signed on September 3rd and released on September 8th, and was re-signed on October 3rd and released on October 6th and re-signed on October 10th.  

On Wednesday the Patriots released safety Ray Ventrone who they had activated off the practice squad list on Saturday for the Indianapolis game.  Ventrone had take the roster spot opened by Sammy Morris going on IR. 

With Rivers and Ventrone being released the Patriots moved wide receiver Chad Jackson and cornerback Eddie Jackson from the PUP list to the active 53-man roster.

The NFL announced on Tuesday that the Patriots home game on December 9th against the Steelers has been moved from 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.  The move was requested by CBS to move the game into a better TV time slot.

Wide receiver Randy Moss was named AFC Offensive player of the Week.

Head coach Bill Belichick was nominated for Motorola NFL Head Coach of the Week after the team beat the Indianapolis Colts on the road 24-20.

Defensive lineman Jarvis Green was nominated for GMC Defensive Player of the Week he had five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble in the teams win over the Colts.

At this time it looks like the Patriots have no interest in running back Corey Dillon.  Head coach Bill Belichick said on Monday that at this time they will go with the four backs they have, Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk, Heath Evans and Kyle Eckel. 

CBS took responsibility for the repeating crowd noise and the NFL issued this statement:

“CBS has informed us that the unusual audio moment heard by fans during the Patriots-Colts game was the result of tape feedback in the CBS production truck and was isolated to the CBS broadcast. It was in no way related to any sound within the stadium and could not be heard in the stadium,” said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

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Written by Steve Hofstetter, Keith Alberstadt, Adam Hofstetter, Cody Marley, Ryan Murphy, Elliot Steingart, and Chris Strait

A Utah high school football coach is facing charges of animal cruelty because he stomped a pheasant that ran on the field. This weekend, the pheasant is favored by three over Notre Dame.

A Kansas high school football team beat an opponent 83-0 last week. The blowout made the game as un-exciting as Kansas itself.

Spanish researchers say that beer is better than water for re-hydrating after a hard workout. Which is how John Daly won the 1991 PGA Championship.

Major League Baseball is considering installing instant replay in important games. That way Scott Boras has more time to hold press conferences. Boras client Alex Rodriguez might sign with the Chicago Cubs, where he won’t even get a chance to fold in the playoffs.

The hapless Pittsburgh Pirates named John Russell their new manager. Yeah, that should do it.

Barry Bonds claims that he will not bring any baggage to whatever team signs him, especially since his baggage is now tiny and shriveled.

Sammy Sosa wants to play in the Major Leagues next year, as long as he can get at least $7 million. Apparently cork is more expensive than it looks.

Los Angeles forward Lamar Odom sustained a slight concussion in an automobile accident. Paramedics were called after Odom stumbled out of the car, thinking the Lakers had a shot at the championship.

And the NFL’s oldest living player Sam Dana passed away at 104. Next week, he’ll be returning punts for the Rams.

For more of the Sports Minute (Or So), visit minuteorso.com

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays would like us to start calling them by a different name. They would now like to be known as the Tampa Bay Rays. They have abandoned the “Devil” in the name and gone with new colors.

Carl Crawford is happy with the change:

“It feels like a fresh start. It’s like that feeling of going to school on the first day. You get to wear the new uniforms. It feels good. You know what they say, ‘You play like you feel.’ We feel good, we look good, so hopefully, we’ll play good.”

Stuart Sternberg who took over the team in 2005 was all smiles as well:

“I think this gives us as an organization and identity,” he said. “It was something where we were tied to the past, and the past wasn’t something we necessarily wanted to be known for. Nobody’s running from it, or hiding from it, and we’re proud of certain aspects of it. This is something the organization has really been able to put their arms around, and I’m hoping the fans will see it as a new beginning.”

Until the Devil Rays can get some good veterans to go with their plethora of young talent, I don’t think it’s going to matter whether or not they changed their name or uniforms.

The New England Revolution are heading to the MLS final for the third time in a row as they beat the Chicago Fire 1-0 on Thursday night. Taylor Twellman scored the only goal in the game on a bicycle kick. They await the winner of Houston/Kansas City.

A.J. Price led four Huskies in double figures with 24 points as UConn beat up on Buffalo 82-57 in the 2nd round of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic in front of 9,740 at Gampel Pavilion. UConn now advances to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden next Thursday where they will face Gardner-Webb, who beat Kentucky last night.

Besides Price’s 24 points, UConn was led by Jerome Dyson with 12 points, Jeff Adrien had 11 points and Stanley Robinson had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Buffalo was led by Greg Gamble’s 13 points and 7 rebounds while Andy Robinson added 9 points.

UConn started out the game by jumping out to a 8-2 lead but Buffalo eventually took a 24-19 lead and the Huskies faithful wasn’t happy. Then the Price show happened as he led the Huskies on a 24-6 run to close out the first half with UConn leading 43-30 at the half.

The Huskies started the second half the same way the first half ended, on a nice 11-4 run to put them up by 19 points. A Robinson dunk gave the Huskies a 21-point lead and they never looked back from there.

The Huskies will be off until next Thursday’s semifinals matchup with Gardner-Webb. That game will be televised on ESPN2 and the game time hasn’t been determined yet.

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Everyone has been to a sporting event where they put messages up on the giant screen. Lately most stadiums and arenas have been taking those messages via text messages from cell phones.  I’ve been in the Hartford Civic Center and Gampel Pavilion and seen them solict for the messages.  In most cases they range from Happy Birthday to Will You Marry Me. 

Well apparently at Busch Stadium in St. Louis they took the message a little too far.  During a Cardinals-Royals game in May of 2006 a female student in a group of high school students on school field trip* decided to send a scoreboard message about one of her classmates.  The message said “(A.B.) has an STD!!  Ewww!!!”

In a lawsuit filed by the mother of the girl, only identified as “C.B.”, it says that the workers or agents of the Cardinals “approved the message to go on the board,” and it was posted during the game that drew a turnout of more than 48,000.

The suit says the teen, only identified as “A.B.”, has never had a sexually transmitted disease and that the Cardinals “published the text consciously disregarding whether the text was true or not”. 

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in St. Louis Circuit Court, claims the 17-year-old girl was so traumatized by the message last year that she stayed out of school the rest of the semester and took her finals in a school office to avoid ridicule. Not to mention the fact it will be a hell of a long time before she gets laid. 

The lawsuit seeks at least $25,000 in damages from the Cardinals, alleging the ballclub negligently failed to properly screen the messages, which fans may submit for a small fee to display on Busch Stadium’s electronic message board.

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* – Since when do students get to take field trips to see major league baseball games and why didn’t they do this when I was in high school??

Back in early October, I was presented with an opportunity from the people who manage Clay Buchholz to ask Clay some questions for an upcoming video blog. He took questions from his blog, Buch Wild and of course here at SOX & Dawgs, Well the time has arrived to see his answers.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee_h0uXdyEY[/youtube]

I was very fortunate to have this opportunity and I do hope to continue this relationship in order to bring you guys more about the young phenom as he works his way to a spot in the Red Sox rotation next year and for years to come.

A special thanks to Clay Buchholz and his management team for taking the time to present this opportunity and for answering the questions. Another big thank you goes out to everyone who asked questions and to Dan for letting me know the video was available.

Some details of the Mitchell Report have come to light and there are 11 free agents on the list right now, including the newly outed Jose Guillen. Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe confirmed this today:

Player agents who attended yesterday’s union meeting in New York were told that 11 current free agent players are named in the George Mitchell report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, which could come out sometime around the first of the year, and that all 11 players have been notified by the commissioner’s office. Two agents who were there confirmed this today.

With those 11 players being named, it will surely cost them money in the free agent market. It will also be very interesting to see which 11 players are named. Will a team be willing to take a chance on these players? We know from an earlier report about that there will be star players included in the Mitchell Report.

It had been thought that the Mitchell Report would come out any time now but it appears from the article that it will come around the first of the year. The Mitchell Report Commission has set a deadline of Saturday for all evidence to be submitted.

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