Are you a UConn Huskies fan who is thinking of heading to the International Bowl in Toronto, Canada to catch the Huskies take on the Buffalo Bulls? If you are, I highly suggest that you purchase your tickets through UConn and not go directly through the International Bowl.

UConn needs to sell their allotment of 10,000 tickets and it would help if you did it through the official UConn bowl website, UConnBowl.com.

This is the press release that went out this afternoon:

The University of Connecticut Division of Athletics has announced the following call-in hours for ordering travel packages and/or game tickets to the 2009 International Bowl in Toronto on Saturday, January 3 at 12:00 p.m.

All orders can be placed by calling 1-888-GO-UCONN (1-888-468-2666) or by visiting UConnBowl.com.

Orders will begin being taken on Tuesday, December 9 for members of The UConn Club. Legend, Champion and All-American donors can begin ordering at 9 a.m. while MVP, Golden Husky and Directors can order at 12:00 p.m. All other donor categories may begin ordering at 4:00 p.m.

Football season tickets holders who are not members of The UConn Club may begin ordering on Wednesday, December 10 at 9 a.m. while the general public may begin at 12:00 p.m.

All of UConn’s tickets for the game are priced at $40.

Fans are reminded that if they are unable to attend the game, they may still order tickets from UConn and those tickets will be donated to charitable groups in the local area who will attend the game and cheer for the Huskies.

And if you’re thinking of heading to the game and flying, you will need your passport. If you’re thinking of driving across the border, you will need a passport OR a valid driver’s license and your birth certificate. For more information, you can head over to the Department of Homeland Security website.

Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe is reporting that Jason Varitek will decline the offer of arbitration from the Boston Red Sox.

A source close to Sox catcher Jason Varitek confirmed that Varitek would decline salary arbitration from the Red Sox before the midnight deadline. This will allow Varitek to pursue his free-agent market without being tied exclusively to the Red Sox for the upcoming season.

Don’t worry though, Varitek could still end up as a member of the Red Sox depending on what his agent Scott Boras can find for him. I see the chances of Varitek being back with the Red Sox at about 25% right now.

Cafardo also says in the post that the Red Sox are expecting Paul Byrd to decline the offer of arbitration from the Red Sox.

Should Varitek sign elsewhere, the Red Sox would receive two extra draft picks while they would only get one extra if Byrd goes to another team.

UPDATE MIDNIGHT: It’s official.

UPDATE #2: Byrd has also declined the Red Sox offer of arbitration.

The UConn Huskies football team has found out it’s bowl destination and it appears they will be heading north of the border to Toronto for the International Bowl and a date against the Buffalo Bulls on January 3rd at Noon on ESPN2.

The Bulls recently beat the undefeated Ball State Cardinals in the MAC Championship game to earn their first ever bowl bid. For UConn, it’s their second straight bowl game and third in the last 5 years.

The International Bowl is played in Toronto, Canada at the Rogers Centre.

Update 4:10 PM: Here’s a statement from Randy Edsall about the bowl bid.

“We are very excited to be playing in the International Bowl in the beautiful city of Toronto,” coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “I think it is a strong statement to the development of our program as we have now played in bowl games in back-to-back years for the first time our history. We worked with the executive director Ken Hoffman and his staff in 2004 when we played in the Motor City Bowl and had a terrific experience and we look forward to the same for this bowl”

The UConn Huskies will learn their bowl fate at some point today.

Rutgers is the key to UConn’s bowl destination.

Aaron Bryant made the most of his final home game yesterday.

UConn threw away the game with 5 interceptions in the loss yesterday.

Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant has a look at what went right (not a lot) and what went wrong (too much) for UConn yesterday.

UConn head coach Randy Edsall had a 3 minute rant on the state of the UConn football program at the end of his press conference. Here’s the audio of it courtesy of the Hartford Courant.

Here’s a look at the numbers of Donald Brown and LeSean McCoy.

Joe Perez of the Norwich Bulletin was not happy about the number of fans who came inside to watch the Senior Day festivities. He also talks about how D.J. Hernandez being a poor interview at one time.

John Silver of the Journal Inquirer has a look at the awful stats of the UConn passing game.

Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register and John Silver of the Journal Inquirer have some postgame notes.

Brian Bennett of ESPN.com gave Donald Brown a helmet sticker for his 189 yard performance.

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant answers questions about the UConn men’s basketball team in his weekly mailbag.

David Gillett has some video of former UConn Husky point guard Khalid El-Amin.

He also has some a player profile of Stanley Robinson.

Hasheem Thabeet is emerging as an offensive force for the Huskies.

Let us know which bowl you think UConn might end up by voting in the poll in the sidebar to the left.

Was UConn Huskies running back Donald Brown’s 189 yard performance yesterday the last time we will see him play in a regular season game?

The signs are pointing to no right now after his comments after the game yesterday.

“Right now, I’m coming back,” he said. “I’m coming back. I’m not worried about weeks from now. I’m coming back.”

Any chance of that changing?

“I don’t know,” he said. “There’s still a lot that needs to be done, you know? My one goal is, I want to go to a BCS bowl before I leave and we’re obviously not going to a BCS bowl this year and I have a year left to do it so…”

It would be great to have Brown back next season but obviously he’s going to do what is right for him and his family. The fact that right now he’s saying he wants to return is a great thing.

Brown finished the season as the leading rusher in FCS (formerly Division I) with 1,822 yards.

Should the Boston Red Sox keep Justin Masterson in the bullpen for the 2009 season? Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe offers up 5 reasons why they should.

5. The impact on Manny Delcarmen. As we learned last year, Delcarmen is far more effective in the sixth or seventh innings.

4. His stuff is better. As a starter, Masterson’s fastball is in 90-92. As a reliever, he has touched 96. This gives Masterson the ability to induce K’s and double plays.

3. The lefty issue. Unless or until he incorporates an effective changeup or split, Masterson will continue to be vulnerable against lefthanded batters.

2. Efficiency – or inefficiency. As a starter, Masterson’s difficulties against lefthanded batters can inflate his pitch counts and shorten his outings.

1. The team would be better off. It may seem sad to say, but an effective late-inning reliever now may have more value than a mediocre, back-end starter.

Usually Mazz blows smoke up our asses. This time though I have to agree with him.

First off, how do we know that Ramon Ramirez is going to thrive in Boston? He’s never pitched in an environment like Fenway Park which is like playing in the World Series on a nightly basis.

Masterson’s proved he can pitch on the big stage. It’s as simple as that.

We did see Masterson struggle against lefties when starting. He did have some struggles against lefties out of the bullpen but not to the degree of when he started. By keeping him in the bullpen, you’re able to use him for any amount of time in a similar fashion to how he was used this year. Need him for 2 innings, let him go 2 innings. Need him to come in and strike Alex Rodriguez out, let him come in and do that.

Personally I think the Red Sox are a better team with Masterson in the pen than they are with him starting. Of course if the Red Sox sign a free agent starter, he’ll end up in the bullpen and all of this ends up being a moot point.

Share your thoughts with us in the comments.