Step right up John Gruden, you’re next on “Who got fired in the NFL today?”

Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer announced today that they have fired their head coach and also their general manager, Bruce Allen.

“We will be forever grateful to Jon for bringing us the Super Bowl title, and we thank Bruce for his contributions to our franchise,” Buccaneers co-chairman Joel Glazer said in a statement. “However after careful consideration, we feel that this decision is in the best interest of our organization moving forward.”

Gruden spent 7 years with the Buccaneers, going 57-55 including a win in Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 over his former employer, the Oakland Raiders.

Unfortunately what probably sealed Gruden’s fate was the fact the Buccaneers started out the 2008 season 9-3, only to lose their last 4 games and miss out on the playoffs.

I’d have to think you’ll probably see Gruden’s name pop up in the few openings left in the NFL. Although I do wonder if some teams, the Cleveland Browns in particular, are regretting their decision to hire a coach (Eric Mangini) so quickly.

Boston Celtics mascot Lucky The Leprechaun was on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and appears in a segment dunking the ball. Even Conan tries to get into the dunking action.

[dailymotion width=”384″ height=”305″]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81mj7_lucky-on-conan_sport[/dailymotion]

During last night’s episode of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien”, Conan had a little bit of a good time making fun of the FOX Sports robot Cletus.

[dailymotion width=”384″ height=”305″]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81miv_cleatus-gets-made-fun-of_sport[/dailymotion]

Conan previously made fun of Cletus during Tuesday night’s show as well.

Schill looks at both sides of the coin with Jason Varitek: Curt Schilling takes a look at the Jason Varitek situation and thinks the Red Sox can without him. But he also says the Red Sox would be far better served if Varitek was behind the plate. He also says that John Farrell is the “x” factor in all of this stating that if Farrell wasn’t there, Tek may already be signed. [38 Pitches]

I just caught this over at Neill Ostrout’s blog over at the Connecticut Post.

Former UConn point guard Khalid El-Amin’s family was the victim of a hate crime Dec. 27. Calhoun said three “molotov cocktails” were thrown through the window of his family’s home just outside of Minneapolis. Many of El-Amin’s sports trophies and other UConn memorabilia were burned, though no one was physically hurt by the attack. El-Amin and his family are Muslim. El-Amin is currently playing professional basketball in the Ukraine but according to Calhoun he is traveling home to be with his family.

It’s amazing to me that this kind of hate is still around.

Here’s a link to the story on WCCO.com in Minneapolis and here is their video.

[flash http://ianbethune.com/wcco.flv w=304 h=225]

Kemba Walker returned home to New York City and put on a show for his friends and family there to watch him as he had 21 points to lead the No. 4 UConn Huskies to a 67-55 win over the St. John’s Red Storm in front of 7,545 at Madison Square Garden.

The win improves the Huskies to 16-1 (4-1) Big East and is their fourth straight while the Red Storm fall to 10-6 (1-3). It is also the first time that the Huskies won a 3-game road trip during the Jim Calhoun era.

If it weren’t for Walker’s play this game could have gone a different route for the Huskies. He came off the bench to provide some support as Jerome Dyson and A.J. Price were struggling. Walker also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Jeff Adrien had the 39th double-double of his career and 6th of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Hasheem Thabeet added 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. He should have had 6 but was called for a foul when he blocked a dunk. Despite his struggles, Price finished with 8 points and 5 assists.

The Red Storm were led by Paris Horne’s game-high 24 points. D.J. Kennedy had a good all-around game as he had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals.

The first half was a game of runs by both teams that eventually saw UConn holding a 31-26 advantage in the final 30 seconds of the game. Instead of holding the ball for the final shot, Price made a huge mistake when he tried to throw a lob pass to Stanley Robinson and it was intercepted by the Red Storm who took it down the court and converted the basket.

Calhoun was incensed with his point guard and called a timeout. On the ensuing play, Robinson had the ball stolen at midcourt and Rob Thomas was able to convert it into two points to cut UConn’s lead to 1 at 31-30 heading into the break.

St. John’s stayed close early on in the second half until UConn’s zone defense and pressure helped them pull away. A 14-2 run by the Huskies led by Walker scoring the final 7 points that helped UConn push the lead to 51-36. The Red Storm got it back into single digits twice but Price hit both of his 3-pointers to keep the UConn lead in double figures.

It was a very physical game that saw both teams and coaches get frustrated with some of the calls. While Walker is only a freshman and his cool, calm demeanor kept the Huskies under control and helped them to the win.

The Huskies return home to XL Center on Sunday afternoon when they host the Seton Hall Pirates at 2 PM.

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