It’s just one day until the rest of the Boston Red Sox report to camp as yesterday the pitchers and catchers held their first official workout in Ft. Myers.

As I’ve been saying all along, I’m stoked right now and can’t wait for the season to start. But before that, we’ll have some stories to follow during spring training such as the battle for the starting shortstop, how will the bullpen shape up and how will Brad Penny, John Smoltz, Takashi Saito and Rocco Baldelli’s health hold up

The big news of yesterday was obviously Jason Varitek addressing the media for the first time since re-signing with the Red Sox. Rather than rehashing it all here in this post, I’ll refer you to yesterday’s post, The Captain Speaks, which has the video of the press conference.

Red Sox skipper Terry Francona also addressed the media yesterday and talked about the first day of workouts as well as Jason Varitek.

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dmfs_terry-francona_sport[/dailymotion]video courtesy of NESN

Francona’s delighted to have Varitek back [Providence Journal]

The Red Sox have a full plate of backup catching options [Boston Globe]

Josh Bard gets second shot as backup backstop [Boston Herald]

The Red Sox are dealing with some minor ailments [Providence Journal]

Javier Lopez in good situation with Red Sox [Boston Globe]

For Jed Lowrie, it’s all in the wrist [Boston Herald]

Here’s a glimpse of what we missed during Day 1 [Extra Bases]

Since he’s out of options, George Kottaras will skip the WBC [Providence Journal]

Jed Lowrie’s wrist feels much better [Boston Globe]

Even though they have Varitek, the Red Sox are on prowl for his replacement [Providence Journal]

Bob Ryan, Amalie Benjamin and Nick Cafardo offer some insight on Day 1 at Red Sox camp [Extra Bases]

Dan Roche offers some tidbits from yesterday’s workout [Hit and Run with Dan Roche]

Rocco Baldelli is sick of answering questions about his health [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

Estero North Point is the most environmently-friendly Red Sox site [Ft. Myers News-Press]

Red Sox star Pedroia second to none [Portsmouth Herald News]

Jed Lowrie eyes his prize [Full Count]

For Red Sox prospects, long line to rotation [WEEI.com]

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they will host the Pittsburgh Panthers at 3:30 PM at Gampel Pavilion. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2. The UConn women’s links and game story today will be in pink since today is the PinkZone game.

UConn women’s basketball links

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register, John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant, Rich Elliott of the Connecticut Post, and Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin all have notes on the UConn women’s basketball team.

John Altavilla has some news about Elena DelleDonne [UConn ¦ Women’s Basketball]

Huskies will be all over Zealous [New Haven Register]

Assistant coach Ralph big help with blue print [Norwich Bulletin]

Here’s a preview of today’s game against Pittsburgh [Norwich Bulletin]

Zellous misses Ralph, but is thriving for Pitt [Hartford Courant]

Here’s another preview of today’s game against Pittsburgh [Hartford Courant]

Pitt women to test UConn today [Danbury News-Times]

Yet another preview of today’s game against Pitt [Danbury News-Times]

Up-and-coming Pitt women out to copy UConn [Waterbury Republican-American]

Current Huskies squad looking to make history [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

Ralph’s now part of the Huskies development [New London Day]

UConn men’s basketball links

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant, Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post and David Borges of the New Haven Register all have notes on the UConn men’s team.

UConn Teams Unequaled Everywhere but at Home [NY Times]

Thabeet, Huskies sink Pirates [New Haven Register]

Injured Dyson looking long-term [New Haven Register]

More believing in Thabeet [Norwich Bulletin]

Dyson’s surgery set for Monday [Norwich Bulletin]

Bad twist to Dyson’s season [Hartford Courant]

UConn extras: Thabeet Emulates Okafor [Hartford Courant]

Thabeet’s numbers are very impressive over the last 5 games [Hartford Courant]

Thabeet dominates Pirates [Danbury News-Times]

Dyson looks to future after devastating knee injury [Danbury News-Times]

Huskies have too much Thabeet for Hall to handle [Waterbury Republican-American]

Dyson cautious about return [Waterbury Republican-American]

Pitt shift focus to UConn [Beaver County Times]

Calhoun and Boeheim close in on 800 wins [The Quad]

DeJuan Blair: Bring on UConn giant [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

In victory over Seton Hall, UConn’s Hasheem Thabeet steps up — again — with Jerome Dyson out [The Star-Ledger]

The Big Show [New London Day]

Dyson won’t rush back to action [New London Day]

Diggers Phelps compares Hasheem Thabeet to Bill Russell:

[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8dmbu_hasheem-thabeet-compared-to-bill-ru_sport[/dailymotion]

UConn hockey links

The UConn women’s hockey team beat the Maine Black Bears 3-2 [UConnHuskies.com]

The UConn men’s hockey team fell to Mercyhurst 7-4 [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

The Fat White Guy makes Maxim.com [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

Is there any big man in the country playing any better than Hasheem Thabeet right now.

Thabeet narrowly missed a triple double with a career-high 25 points, a career-high 20 rebounds and 9 blocked shots to lead the No. 1 UConn Huskies to a 62-54 win over a tough Seton Hall Pirates team at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

It’s the 13th straight win for the Huskies (24-1, 12-1 Big East) and matches their best start in school history from 1995-1996. Seton Hall, who had been hot as of late, falls to 14-10 (5-7 Big East).

Jeff Adrien picked up the 11th double-double and 44th of his career with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Kemba Walker came off the bench adding 8 points.

John Garcia led the Pirates with a double-double of his own with 22 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. Jeremy Hazell had 14 points while Robert Mitchell chipped in with 8 points and 15 rebounds.

Slow going for the both teams early on as neither team could really get anything going on the offensive end. Then with the score tied 11-11, UConn went on a 13-2 run to open up an 11 point lead.  Seton Hall stood strong though as they made an 8-2 run to cut the lead to 6 points. The Huskies closed out the half on an 7-2 run behind six points by Thabeet to take a 10 point lead 33-23 at the half.

Seton Hall came out fast in the second half going on an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 5 points at 36-31.  Calhoun had to call timeout during the run to let voice his displeasure about his team’s play on the defensive end. The Huskies responded with a 6-0 forcing Seton Hall into a timeout.

The Huskies were never able to really put this game away but Seton Hall didn’t get closer than 8 points the rest of the way as the lead hovered around 10 points. The main reason for this was the poor shooting from the perimeter for the Huskies.

The Pirates had trouble scoring inside today as Thabeet was just a force to be reckoned with. Along with the 9 blocked shots, he unofficially altered about another 12-13 shots. While Stanley Robinson and Craig Austrie only had 8 points between them, they both did a great job of taking Hazell out of his comfort range.

ESPN’s Big Monday brings a big game to the XL Center as the No. 4 Pittsburgh Panthers come to town. Tip is scheduled for 7 PM. It should be another great Big East battle between the top dawgs and the Panthers.

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It’s game day for the No. 1 UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are in Newark, NJ at the Prudential Center to take on the Seton Hall Pirates. The tip is scheduled for 12 PM and the game will be covered locally on MyTV9 and SNY. Mike Gleason (play-by-play) and Mike Kelley (analyst) have the call.

For the men it’s their first game A.J.D (after Jerome Dyson). The Huskies have played without him before and I fully expect Craig Austrie and Kemba Walker to step up their games while filling in for him.

UConn men’s basketball links

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant, Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post and David Borges of the New Haven Register all have some notes on the UConn men’s team.

UConn is forging ahead without Jerome Dyson [Norwich Bulletin]

UConn begins life without Jerome Dyson [Connecticut Post]

Calhoun talks about Dyson [New London Day]

Here’s a preview of today’s game against Seton Hall [Danbury News-Times]

Dyson’s knee makes Walker the key [New Haven Register]

A new dynamic without Dyson [Hartford Courant]

Jim Calhoun says it’s a different team that should get same results [New Haven Register]

Here’s a preview of today’s game against Seton Hall [Hartford Courant]

UConn men: Stand or fall [Journal Inquirer]

Huskies begin life without Dyson today [Waterbury Republican-American]

Loss of Dyson not a KO for UConn [Hartford Courant]

UConn women’s basketball links

Ralph is an ex-Pitt on this subject [Journal Inquirer]

Stevens leaves lasting impression on UConn women [SI.com]

UConn women’s recruit Michaela Johnson will be making a visit to campus on March 16-17 [Elm City to Eagleville]

Incoming UConn women’s player Kelly Faris was not invited to play in the WBCA All-Star Game [UConn ¦ Women’s Basketball]

Here’s a preview of the UConn women’s game against Pittsburgh on Sunday [Hartford Courant]

UConn hockey links

The UConn women’s hockey team beat the Maine Black Bears 3-1 in Orono, Maine [UConnHuskies.com]

The UConn men’s hockey team lost to the Mercyhurst Lakers 6-3 at home [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

There are a couple of changes to the UConn baseball schedule for the Big East/Big Ten Challenge in Florida next weekend [UConnHuskies.com]

Forget what the calendar says about spring starting on March 20th, spring is here. It may be 25° with a windchill of 14° outside right now as I write this but it’s still spring to me. Why’s that? Because spring training has started for the Boston Red Sox.

Yesterday marked the day where the Red Sox pitchers and catchers took their physicals and then all participated in some conditioning drills. All of the members of the Red Sox particpiated with the exception of Tim Wakefield whose right butt cheek was hurting.

[flv width=”400″ height=”300″]http://ianbethune.com/SOXDawgs.flv[/flv]video courtesy of NECN

Today will mark the first workout for the pitchers and catchers and in just 2 whole days, the rest of the team is expected to report to camp. And it’s just 11 days until the Sox play their first exhibition games of the season.

Today also marks the first day that newly re-signed catcher Jason Varitek will address the assembled media. It should be interesting to hear what he has to say about the whole free agent process but with Scott Boras being his agent, I’m sure he’ll say all the right things.

Don’t forget NESN will be broadcasting live at 10 AM this morning from Ft. Myers.

John Smoltz held a picnic court yesterday on the picnic benches and talk about a variety of subjects including his departure from the Atlanta Braves.

Smoltz: ‘Wearing a new uniform, for me, is not a problem’ [Full Count]

Francona is having the time of his life [Boston Globe]

Mike Lowell looks back on a challenging winter [WEEI]

Learning curve for the youngsters [Boston Globe]

Manny Delcarmen wants to setup Papelbon [Full Count]

Pedroia: ‘I’m shredded and jacked’ [Providence Journal]

Takashi Saito, Junichi Tazawa reflect on a pioneer (Hideo Nomo) [Full Count]

Jon Lester attains veteran status [Boston Herald]

Jacoby Ellsbury is set to make an impression when arrives today [ProJo Sox Blog]

Red Sox hope young pitchers listen when Smoltz speaks [Providence Journal]

Four Red Sox minor leaguers are on the Baseball Prospectus Top 100 list [Baseball Prospectus]

The Salem Red Sox are bringing in the green thanks to ticket sales [WDBJ7]

Obviously the news about Jerome Dyson was disheartening for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team but remember folks, they did pretty good without him last year when he was suspended. All great teams adjust to injuries and I fully expect them to do the same.

UConn men’s basketball links

Matt Stout of the Norwich Bulletin, Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant, Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post and David Borges of the New Haven Register have some notes on the UConn men’s basketball team.

Marty Gagne answers questions about the UConn men’s basketball team [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

College basketball player of the year straw poll No. 2 [The Journal Gazette]

10 Reasons to relax about Dyson’s injury [UCONN | Men’s Basketball]

Andy Katz talks about the injury to Dyson and how it affects UConn [ESPN.com]

Fan view of Adrien’s game ball [UConn Huskies basketball]

David Gillett asks what now for the UConn men [UConn Huskies basketball]

Looking out for No. 1 [Connecticut Post]

Dyson could be lost for season [New Haven Register]

Dyson out with torn meniscus [Connecticut Post]

Dyson may miss remainder of season with knee injury [Norwich Bulletin]

Dyson to have knee surgery, will be out indefinitely [Hartford Courant]

Huskies’ worst fears realized [New London Day]

UConn best able to absorb Dyson’s loss [Waterbury Republican-American]

With Dyson out… [Hartford Courant]

UConn women’s basketball links

Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register, John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant and Rich Elliott of the Connecticut Post have some notes on the UConn women’s team.

UConn recruit Lauren Englen will be making an unofficial visit this weekend [Elm City To Eagleville]

UConn football links

UConn football’s  Mount Rushmore [ESPN.com]

UConn Hockey

The UConn women’s hockey team heads to Maine for a couple of Hockey East games this weekend [UConnHuskies.com]

The UConn men’s hockey team will host Mercyhurst this weekend [UConnHuskies.com]

Other UConn related links

Your Fat White Guy moment of the week [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]

This week’s sign of the apocalypse [Thoughts From a Fat White Guy]