UConn Takes Care Of Business In Season Opener 81-55

The past two seasons, the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team has struggled in it’s season opening game. Tonight, they looked to erase that and did just that as they easily dispatched of the Western Carolina Catamounts 81-55 in front of 9,820 at Gampel Pavilion.

Hasheem Thabeet blocks yet another shotThe Catamounts had no one to guard Hasheem Thabeet (he enjoyed a 7″ size advantage) and it showed as he torched them for 23 points and 17 rebounds. He also had 5 blocked shots. Jerome Dyson had a great night as well as he had 23 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists while Jeff Adrien added 14 points and 7 rebounds. Kemba Walker had 8 points and 5 assists in his UConn debut.

A.J. Price was held scoreless in the game and was ejected with 7:29 left in the game when he got tangled up with Western Carolina’s Joey Parker and threw a punch into the stomach of Parker. Price will most likely be suspended for the next game and will have to watch himself over the course of the season. He also gave Jim Calhoun and the Huskies faithful a scare in the 1st half when he had to leave the court after coming down on a Catamount’s player’s ankle. He returned to a loud ovation just 3 minutes later.

Brandon Giles led the Catamounts with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Harouna Mutombo chipped in with 11 points and Jake Robinson added 10 for the visitors.

UConn got off to a quick start as they scored the first 13 points of the game before a Robinson three pointer with 14:43 to go in the 1st half got the Catamounts on the board. This was as close as Western Carolina would get in the first half as the Huskies would enjoy a 40-25 advantage at halftime.

It was more of the same for the Huskies as an 11-0 run in the second half would push their lead to 26 points and they never looked back from there.

The Hartford Hawks are up next for the Huskies on Monday night at 7:00 PM at the XL Center.

Continue reading →

Salem Avalanche Are Now The Salem Red Sox

Earlier this morning, I passed along in an update that the Fenway Sports Group owned Salem Avalanche had been renamed to the Salem Red Sox. Here is the press release announcing it.

Salem Red SoxSALEM, Va. (November 14, 2008) – The Salem Avalanche, a Class-A Advanced Carolina League baseball franchise, today announced that it will bear the name of the 2004 and 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox, and will now be called the Salem Red Sox.

As part of the announcement, team officials unveiled a new logo that features the Red Sox brand and marks including the team’s iconic dangling socks against a backdrop of the majestic Blue Ridge Mountain range, a symbol that is synonymous with the Roanoke Valley. The new uniform will be officially unveiled at a Salem Red Sox fan celebration at the Tanglewood Mall on Saturday, November 15.

Fenway Sports Group, the managing partner for the ownership group that acquired the team in December 2007, recently announced that the Salem baseball franchise signed a player development contract with the Boston Red Sox and now serves as the club’s top Class A affiliate. The organization has played under the name the Salem Avalanche since 1995 and was most recently affiliated with the Houston Astros.

“We’re thrilled to bring Red Sox Nation and everything associated with it to the Roanoke Valley,” said Fenway Sports Group President and Red Sox Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee. “This is not merely a cosmetic change but a change in the organization’s culture. This will be reflected in all aspects of our organization as we deliver on our commitment to field a championship-caliber baseball team, provide an unparalleled fan experience, and operate a franchise that continues to grow deep roots into the community.”

This announcement marks the sixth time that the Boston Red Sox will hold an affiliation with a Carolina League team, but only the third time the franchise will bear the Red Sox name. Previous clubs include the Wilmington Blue Rocks (2005-06), the Lynchburg Red Sox (1988-94), the Winston-Salem Red Sox (1961-84), the Raleigh Capitals (1958-60) and the Greensboro Patriots (1953-57).

Continue reading →

Buck To Miss At Least 3 Weeks With Mono

Heather Buck - Hartford Courant PhotoUConn Huskies women’s basketball freshman center Heather Buck will miss at least the next 3 weeks with mononucleosis. Jim Fuller of the New Haven Register has the scoop.

As was feared, freshman center Heather Buck does have mononucleosis and is out a minimum of three weeks and will be checked every week for progress. The three-week window of recovery could have Buck returning to practice in time for the Dec. 14 game against Penn State in the Maggie Dixon Classic in New York although it is possible it could take her more than three weeks to get back on the court.

This is a blow to the Huskies who will now be lacking a body in the post. Buck was expected to help out backing up Tina Charles at center. Charles will now have to play smart basketball and stay out of foul trouble.

Head coach Geno Auriemma is concerned about the lack of depth he has in the post.

“We’re already thin,” Auriemma said. “So there isn’t really more room for fouls, sickness for anything. I think that’s the most crucial part of our game right now.

“If something were to happen to Tina or Kaili during a game, where do you go? We have to make sure it doesn’t happen. It’s one of those things in your control, yet not in your control.

“Kaili is getting better, but she is up and down. She came back from the summer OK, not great.

She kind of lost her way a little bit. What I’d like to see is her become much more consistent so that we get the same things from her everyday, every game. That’s what she’s going to need to do if she wants to contribute to this team. The opportunity will be there for her.”

Buck has mono [Elm City To Eagleville]

Buck Out At Least Three Weeks [Hartford Courant]

Paw Prints – UConn Huskies (6-3, 2-2) @ Syracuse Orange (2-6, 1-3) Preview

Paw Prints - UConn Football

This week:

UConn Huskies @ Syracuse Orange

The UConn Huskies look to help their bowl chances out with another win as they head to Syracuse to take on the Orange Saturday night at the Carrier Dome. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Orange.

The Line/Prediction:

According to Yahoo! Sports Odds, the Huskies are favored by 10 points. The over/under is 47.5 points.

My prediction is UConn 31 Syracuse 17

Tickets:

As of the time of this post, there are still tickets available for the game.

Getting To The Game:

Here is a weather report for the Syracuse area. The game will be played indoors. Here are directions to Carrier Dome, parking information, a seating chart and the stadium policies.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

The UConn vs. Syracuse game will be televised on ESPNU. Clay Matvick is on play-by-play while David Diaz-Infante is the color announcer.

Radio:

For the 16th consecutive season, WTIC 1080-AM in Hartford serves as the flagship station for the UConn Radio Network. WTIC is the state’s only 50,000 watt signal and can be heard in 23 states and parts of Canada. Veteran UConn announcers Joe D’Ambrosio (play-by-play) and Wayne Norman (color commentary) return to call the action with Kevin Nathan on the sidelines.

The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff and is hosted by Bob Joyce. Nathan will also serve as a features producer for “UConn Football Magazine,” the halftime show, and also play host to a post-game call-in show after home games with Joyce filling that role for road contests. UConn football games are also broadcast over the internet at WTIC.com. For a full list of stations on the WTIC/UCONN radio network, click here.

Syracuse Radio: All Syracuse games are broadcast on the Syracuse University Radio Network.

Continue reading →

Boston Red Sox News & Notes – 11/14

Will he stay or will he go?

Money, money, money, money, money [6x]
Some people got to have it
Some people really need it
Listen to me y’all, do things
Do things, do bad things with it
You wanna do things, do things
Do things, good things with it
Talk about cash money, money
Talk about cash money
Dollar bills, yall

For the Love of Money by The Ojays

As I said at midnight, let the bidding begin for the free agents out there. For the Boston Red Sox, it’s now a chance to see what other offers Jason Varitek will get out on the open market. The Red Sox have made Varitek one of their top priorities of the offseason given the light catcher’s market.

“He’s an important part of the organization — there’s no doubt about that,” Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said recently. “Obviously, he’s coming off a year that wasn’t his best, but he’s important nonetheless. Now he’s a free agent and we’ll be talking to him. We have an obligation to explore all our options. We do that with every position.”

“There’s not a lot of elite catching out there,” Epstein said. “But at the same time, that changes the standards for what you’re looking for. What we like to do is be league average at every position and then be way above league average at as many positions as we can. We try to have no weak links and be at least league average at every position. So with the state of catching, what is league average? It’s well documented that there’s not a lot of elite catching out there, but we’ll figure it out.”

I really don’t see Varitek leaving the Red Sox. What I see is Scott Boras trying to milk every last cent out of the Red Sox to get Varitek signed though. I think the Red Sox end up giving him a 2-year $20 million deal with an option for a 3rd year.

Dustin Pedroia is making his presence felt in Boston.

DeMarlo Hale was in Seattle yesterday interviewing for the vacant Mariners managerial job.

The Red Sox could learn within the next week on whether or not they lose Brad Mills or Hale to the Mariners.

Salem Avalanche assistant GM John Katz talks about the Red Sox move to Virginia.

Curt Schilling checks in at 38 Pitches with his thoughts about Jason Varitek.

Here’s a look at how the Red Sox minor leaguers are doing in the various winter leagues.

Update: The Red Sox Single-A team in Salem, VA has been renamed from the Salem Avalanche to the Salem Red Sox.

Steve and I will be here to provide you with updates during the day if anything breaks on Varitek or any of the other free agents as well.

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 11/14

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Huskies football news for tomorrow’s matchup against the Syracuse Orange will be coming up shortly in the game preview.

It’s opening night for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they will entertain the Western Carolina Catamounts at 7:30 PM at Gampel Pavilion.

The Huskies will look to make a statement in tonight’s opener.

Hasheem Thabeet will decide how far the Huskies go this season.

The UConn men’s basketball veterans are focused on their legacy at UConn.

Meet the UConn men’s basketball team.

The march to madness kicks off tonight for the UConn men.

UConn recruit Durand Scott is expected to attend the game tonight.

George Blaney talked about Alex Oriakhi and Jamal Coombs-McDaniel.

Mike Anthony of the Hartford Courant has some pregame notes for tonight’s men’s game.

David Borges of the New Haven Register has Western Carolina on his mind.

The UConn men begin this season tonight with high expectations.

The UConn men will take their first steps of the season tonight.

David Gillett has a look at the top 10 former Huskies in the NBA.

An announcement on the Heather Buck’s health is expected sometime today.

With only one recruit on the horizon, Geno Auriemma and his staff are looking ahead to the high school junior class.

The UConn women’s basketball freshman players have been impressive in the two exhibition games.

Maya Moore is ESPN.com’s Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year.

Maya Moore and Renee Montgomery were selected as ESPN First Team Preseason All-Americans while Tina Charles was named to the second team.

John Altavilla of the Hartford Courant shares some thoughts about the UConn women’s basketball team.

The UConn women’s hockey team lost 3-2 to Boston College.

The UConn women’s volleyball team will take on DePaul and Notre Dame over the weekend as their regular season comes to a close.

Jets Top Patriots In OT, 34-31

Jay Feely and Reggie Hodges react after Feely's game winning field goal in Foxboro. Getty Photo.

The Result

It was a tale of two halves and overtime.  In the first half the New York Jets were the dominant team racing out to a 24-13 lead at halftime.  Brett Favre and the offense were clicking, the defense wasn’t letting the Patriots get anything going making them settle for field goals.  The New England Patriots came out in the second half and turned things around outscoring New York 18-7 which included a Matt Cassel to Randy Moss 16 yard TD pass with 0:01 left on the clock to tie the game at 31-31.

The Jets won the coin toss and marched down field in overtime getting the ball down to the New England 16 where Jay Feely kicked a game winning 34 yard field goal to win the game and give the Jets sole possession of first place in the AFC East with a 34-31 win at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro.

New York is now 7-3 while New England drops to 6-4 and the Patriots now have two losses in the division both coming at home.   

Scoring Plays

JETS 10 14 0 7 3 34
PATRIOTS 3 10 8 10 0 31

1st Quarter

  • NYJ – Favre 7 yard pass to Washington – Feely PAT
  • NE – Gostkowski 42 yard FG
  • NYJ – Feely 22 yard FG

2nd Quarter

  • NE – Gostkowski 31 yard FG
  • NYJ – Washington 92 yard kickoff return – Feely PAT
  • NYJ – Favre 15 yard pass to Cotchery – Feely PAT
  • NE – Cassel 19 yard pass to Gaffney – Gostkowski PAT

3rd Quarter

  • NE – Cassel 10 yard pass to Watson – Cassel 2 yard pass to Gaffney PAT (2)

4th Quarter

  • NE – Gostkowski 47 yard FG
  • NYJ – Jones 1 yard run – Feely PAT
  • NE – Cassel 16 yard pass to Moss – Gostkowski PAT

Overtime

  • NYJ – Feely 34 yard FG

Offensive Players of the Game

New England QB Matt Cassel was 30 of 51 for 400 yards 2 TD’s and 0 INT’s, he also rushed for 62 yards.  New York RB Thomas Jones had 30 carries for 104 yards and 1 TD.

Defensive Players of the Game

New England LB Jerod Mayo had 20 tackles and 1 passed defensed.  New York LB Eric Barton had 16 tackles.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The coin flip for overtime.  The Jets won it and drove down field for the winning field goal and the Patriots never saw the ball.  The NFL really needs to address overtime, can you imagine if a Super Bowl were to end like that?

Continue reading →

Let The Bidding Begin

As the clock strikes midnight here on the east coast, the exclusive rights any teams had to negotiate with the MLB free agents is over.

So let the bidding begin and watch as the teams will open up their checkbooks despite the poor economy.

Jets @ Patriots…The Live Blog

Jets at Patriots - Week 11

Welcome to the Jets @ Patriots live blog experience. ONCE THE BLOG GOES LIVE, all you need to do to participate is to enter a screen name in the box below. It’s that easy. We encourage you to jump in give us your comments, questions or statements on the game and answer the poll questions you see on the screen.

We look forward to interacting with you in the 21st century way!

It’s Mangini vs. Belichick VII…and it’s next!!

Brown Named 1-of-15 “Players To Watch” For Walter Camp Player of the Year Award

The well-deserved national recognition continues to come in for UConn Huskies running back Donald Brown.

Walter Camp

Walter Camp

On Thursday afternoon, The Walter Camp Foundation announced it’s 15 “players to watch” for it’s Player of the Year Award and Brown was on that list.

The Walter Camp Award is the 4th oldest individual college football award in the nation and the 15 “players to watch” will be whittled down to 5 on December 2nd.

The winner of the award will be announced on December 11th during the 6 PM edition of SportsCenter. The award will given out on January 17th at the Walter Camp Foundation Awards Banquet which is held at the Yale University Commons in New Haven, CT.

Brown currently leads the country averaging 156.22 yards a game and has rushed for 1,406 yards and 15 touchdowns. He is also one of the semifinalists for the Maxwell Award which is given to the top college football player in the land and the Doak Walker Award which is given to the top college running back.

Here is the full list and notes from the press release about each player:

  • Sam Bradford, Sophomore, QB, Oklahoma – Has passed for 3,406 yards and 38 touchdowns for the Sooners
  • Donald Brown, Junior, RB, Connecticut – Leads nation in rushing yards per game (156.22) for the Huskies
  • Michael Crabtree, Sophomore, WR, Texas Tech – Has 78 receptions and 18 touchdowns for Red Raiders
  • Chase Daniel, Senior, QB, Missouri – Has passed for 3,264 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Tigers
  • Jarrett Dillard, Senior, WR, Rice – Has 69 catches and 17 touchdowns for the Owls
  • Graham Harrell, Senior, QB, Texas Tech – Has thrown for 4,077 yards and 36 touchdowns for the Red Raiders
  • Jerry Hughes, Junior, DL, TCU – Leads the nation with 14 sacks for the Horned Frogs
  • James Laurinaitis, Senior, LB, Ohio State – Has 101 tackles, two interceptions and five sacks for the Buckeyes.
  • Jeremy Maclin, Sophomore, WR/KR, Missouri – Averaging 198.5 all-purpose yards per game for the Tigers
  • Rey Maualuga, Senior, LB, USC – Has 57 tackles and 2 interceptions for the Trojans
  • Aaron Maybin, Sophomore, DL, Penn State – Has 16.5 tackles for loss, including 11 sacks, for the Nittany Lions
  • Colt McCoy, Junior, QB, Texas – Has passed for 2,879 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Longhorns
  • Scott McKillop, Senior, LB, Pittsburgh – Has made 89 tackles (61 solo) for the Panthers
  • Javon Ringer, Senior, RB, Michigan State – Has 1,548 rushing yards and scored 20 touchdowns for the Spartans
  • Tim Tebow, Junior, QB, Florida – Has passed for 17 touchdowns and rushed for 10 more for the Gators.