It’s officially the second half of the season for the Boston Red Sox and they enter it with a 10 game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. The Red Sox had a lead last year entering the second half as well and we all know what happened. First thing I want you to do is erase that from your memory bank. This is a different team than last year. Plus the schedule after the break this year is a little bit easier, at least on paper. As the Red Sox prepare to take on the Blue Jays tonight, let’s take a look at the headlines from the Boston area media on this much cooler Thursday morning here in Red Sox Nation.

Dice-K rolls into Pittsfield. [Boston Dirtdogs via Berkshire Eagle]

For 2nd Half, Pop The Question. [Hartford Courant]

Dice-K feels at home. [Boston Globe]

Short story goes on and on, and on… [Boston Herald]

Health of Sox key to season. [Pro Jo]

There’s some work left. [Boston Globe]

Second helpings: Sox hope to enjoy a feast of healthy portions. [Boston Herald]

Praise for glove work centers around Crisp. [Boston Globe]

For more headlines and stories, head over to the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Hartford Courant, and Providence Journal websites.

Here is a the final update for UCONN sports I write about. This one deals with the UCONN Women’s Basketball team.

Maya Moore’s high school coach, Tracy Tipton, is upset that Pat Summitt may be blaming UCONN’s recruitment of Moore as the reason for ending the series.

“It’s a shame that people are trying to make a big issue about this, trying to say the decision was because of her,” Tipton said Thursday. “She doesn’t deserve this. She’s in the middle of it

“When she went to UConn for the Super Show in her junior year, she was really excited. I could tell. If she had to make a decision at that point, if someone had forced her to decide right at that moment, I would have bet 100 percent she would have picked UConn,” Tipton said. “But not long after that, she attended the equivalent show at Tennessee and she came back equally enthused.

“But Maya really didn’t talk about it a lot. She was never one to express verbally what was going on in her head, and I wasn’t going to press her. She’s one of those rare kids that are mature beyond their years. She knew more about those programs than most coaches. She grew up watching women’s college basketball, going to the camps.”

“She’s a very spiritual person and I feel that’s [UConn] where she felt she was being led,” Tipton said. “In addition to that, she was very taken with Coach Auriemma. She really liked him a lot. There was something about him that really intrigued her. He just told her, `If you want to be a part of this, come, and if not, go somewhere else.’ She also liked his system and felt she could be a complete player at UConn, be able to do a little bit of everything.”

“Both Geno and Pat have said the thing that makes Maya so rare is the combination of work ethic and attitude she has,” Tipton said. “It’s hard to find someone like that with everything all wrapped into one. Tennessee knew what they could have had in Maya. They gave everything they could to get her. Neither coach left any stone unturned at the end. And when you work so hard for someone, it’s got to be disappointing, and I know [Summitt] was. … Then again, she wouldn’t be human if she didn’t feel disappointment.”

I agree Moore shouldn’t be be brought into the middle of this. If Summitt has an issue with Auriemma and UCONN’s recruiting tactics, let the NCAA decide. Moore was supposed to play with Elena Delle Donne, but EDD has decided to take the summer off from basketball to refocus herself.

Speaking of Moore, she is on campus right now taking summer classes. Also in the article is allegations by Tennessee that Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird gave Maya Moore a ride to the Naismith Awards in Atlanta in 2006.

“It was a decision [to end UConn-Tennessee] that was made beyond my control and I was shocked to hear it, just like the rest of the country was,” Moore said. “But I can’t get into Coach Summitt’s head to understand the process of why it happened. I’m waiting to hear what she says, like everyone else is.”

Continue reading →

Continuing on with my updates, here is a look at the UCONN Men’s Basketball news.

UCONN will take part in the 2007 Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge on Dec 1st and will be opposed by Gonzaga in the first game of a doubleheader. Providence and Boston College will play in the nightcap. This year, the Hall of Fame Challenge will be held at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston. The game will be on ESPN at 3:30 PM on Dec 1st. The last time the Huskies faced Gonzaga was in the championship of the Maui Invitational.

UCONN received an oral commitment from Kemba Walker, a 6’2″ point guard from New York City.

Hilton Armstrong and Taliek Brown are on campus for summer school trying to finish up their degrees. This bodes well for UCONN’s APR score as the NCAA always is examining graduation rates and can take away scholarships based on the school’s APR number.

With Tom Moore having left for the Quinnipiac job, head coach Jim Calhoun had to make some changes to his staff. He promoted Patrick Sellers to assistant coach, and hired Beau Archibald to be the director of basketball operations. Archibald had been an assistant coach at Florida International last year. Archibald played for the Huskies from 1998-2000.

Jeff Adrien, Jerome Dyson, and Hasheem Thabeet will be busy this summer. They were invited to be counselors at one of the Nike skills academies held for high school players. Adrien will be working in Orlando at the camp run by Vince Carter and Dyson and Thabeet will be working in Phoenix at the camp run by Amare Stoudemire.