With the Big East Conference awards ceremony on the horizon Friday night, I thought I would go ahead and announced my awards for the UCONN team this season. The categories I have are Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Most Improved Player. So on to the awards.

Player of the Year:

For the Player of the Year, I feel as though there are many fine candidates in Tina Charles, Charde Houston, Renee Montgomery, Mel Thomas, and Kalana Greene. So I made the easiest decision possible I could. Since those 5 were the starting 5 for all most the entire season, I have decided that this particular starting 5 is the Random Thoughts Player of the Year.

The starting five of Montgomery, Thomas, Greene, Charles and Houston all averaged double-figures this season. Montgomery led the way with a 13.1 ppg avg, Charles was next at 12.8 ppg, then Greene at 12.3, Houston at 12.2 and Thomas finished with an 11.2 ppg. The last UCONN team to do that was the 2001-2002 team which capped a perfect season with a National Championship.

Rookie of the Year:

This one is pretty much a no-brainer as no other freshman saw as much as time as Tina Charles. At times, she showed some inexperience during the season as she seemed to disappear at times. But down the stretch, she was one of the main reasons why UCONN finished on a 13 game winning streak heading into the Big East Tournament. For the season, Charles averaged 12.8 pts, 8.8 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game. Odds are Charles will win the Big East Rookie of the Year as well.

Most Improved:

After playing in 35 of the 37 games last season, starting in three of them, Kalana Greene moved into the starting lineup full-time this season. Her offensive numbers were vastly improved this season from last year. Last season, she averaged 4.2 ppg and only averaged 13.5 minutes. This season was a totally different story. She averaged 28.8 minutes a game while finishing with a 12.3 pts per game average. At times during the season, she was a force to be reckoned with, just dominating on both ends of the court. She is my favorite to win the Big East’s Most Improved Player as well.

A great season for the Huskies this year. The only thing that will make this season perfect is a National Championship. Good luck to the girls in that quest.

Ok, I know what you are thinking right now. What do Ramirez and Kapler have in common? Other than the fact that they were teammates, absolutely nothing. Actually, I came across two interesting articles about each of them.

The first article I came across is one about how Kapler is adjusting to life as a manager now that he is retired.

“It’s been phenomenal and very rewarding,” the former Red Sox outfielder said of his move to the coaching ranks this spring. “The early returns suggest that this is just what I was hoping for. [I] wake up every day with the mind-set that I’m going to find somebody to help make better.”

This spring has resembled a boot camp for Kapler, whose busy daily regiment begins before sunrise.

“I’m here at 6:15 in the morning and leaving late,” he said. “All day long, I’m really trying to focus on being around players or coaches that I can steal some insight from, whether it be DeMarlo Hale on how to coach third base or Mike Hazen with his experience with managers and coaches in the past or [Red Sox manager Terry Francona] about his experience, or some of the Minor League staff who have been so helpful in reaching out to me and getting me through some of the early growing pains.”

I can tell you that from my experiences in minor league baseball (not as a manager obviously), that there is a lot more than just going out and managing the game. As you read in the article, he will have to do game reports and scouting reports of other players. The managers that I had the pleasure to work with usually were at the ballpark for an hour or two at least after the game doing their reports. They were also at the ballpark 3 to 4 hours before the players listening to the game reports of the other teams in their organization, and going over what ever the big club has sent them for that particular day. So if you thought the life of a minor league manager was easy, think again.

The article dealing with Manny is entitled “The purpose-driven life: Ramirez consumed by desire to be great, and all else is background noise.” It details how hard Manny works to become the best player that he can be and hopefully one of the greatest hitters of all-time.

To reach his goal (and he is succeeding), Ramirez permanently wears blinders, shielding himself from the rest of the world. He has decided that explaining himself or his methods is pretty much a waste of time and energy – resources he’d rather devote to getting better.

An immigrant from the Dominican Republic who grew up in the crack-ridden Washington Heights section of New York City and turned into a multimillionaire who lives in posh digs and dresses like a Rastafarian, Ramirez remains on a single-minded quest to hone his hitting skills. He has taken some funky, inexplicable detours, but every day, Ramirez wakes up and finds himself back on the path.

Most of us are in his way.

By 10 a.m. on gameday, Ramirez is either in the Fenway Park [map] clubhouse or the team’s hotel lobby, ready to meet a workout partner for a couple of hours of weight and strength conditioning. He is on a three-day rotation throughout the entire season that focuses, in turn, on upper, lower and core strength.

“The funny part is that he may look a little eccentric, but he’s an animal. He gets after it – he’s got a full lather going in those workouts,” said Paul Lessard, the team’s head athletic trainer. “It’s not just to get the blood flowing.”

When Dave Page, the strength and conditioning coach, hears the phone ring in his hotel room, he usually can guess who’s on the other end.

“Every day in the morning, he’ll call me and it’s, ’Meet me in the lobby at 10 o’clock,’ ” said Page. “I’ve been in baseball for nine years in the major leagues, and by far, Manny is the most consistent and most intense workout guy I’ve ever had. I think he enjoys it. He comes in in the morning, lifts and works out, goes home for some lunch and a nap, and then he’s back here, running with the pitchers every day and then batting practice.

“I know he doesn’t like to miss a day. If there’s a late game and we have a morning game the next day, he still has to do something. It’s as much of a mental thing for him than it is physical. He’s very loyal to his routine.”

We all know Manny doesn’t speak to the media and from what I can gather from the article is there is a method to his madness. We all joke its just “Manny being Manny” but he does that for the sole purpose of being the greatest player and hitter of all-time. Manny is a great hitter but sometimes his attitude gets in the way. I don’t know if he likes to have his name in the media but he should be relishing the fact that he won’t be the sole focus of the media this season in Boston. With Matsuzaka in town, he won’t have to worry there.

As you read in the article, he is a tireless worker. Always doing something to be the best. As bad as Manny appears to the public, a lesson can be learned from how much effort he puts in to be the best hitter.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Manny Ramirez, Gabe Kapler

The Red Sox had two games on Thursday as they played split squad games. One game took place in Dunedin against the Toronto Blue Jays while the other took place down at the Fort against the Northeastern Huskies.

Josh Beckett was on the hill at the Fort and also looked like he was in midseason form. He threw 21 pitches, 18 of them were strikes, in two innings of work. He also threw some sharp curveballs. Craig Breslow, a Yale graduate, also pitched well striking out 3 in 2 innings. Minor leaguer Scott White and Alex Ochoa were the offensive stars as White had 2 homeruns and 6 rbi’s while Ochoa was 2 for 3 with 2 rbi’s in the 11-0 victory over Northeastern.

The other Sox team wasn’t as fortunate up in Dunedin as they lost to Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Blue Jay’s pitcher Roy Halladay was the story as he pitched 2 innings of 1 hit ball. The only hit he allowed was to former teammate, Eric Hinske, who hit a double. Kason Gabbard pitched 2 innings giving up 1 run. Devern Hansack, who pitched a 5 inning no hitter in the 2006 regular season finale, struck out 3 in an 1 2/3 innings. However, he did give up 2 runs on 3 hits, including a two run homer by Aaron Hill.

The Red Sox will face these same Toronto Blue Jays on Friday afternoon at City of Palms in a the first of two split squad games for the Sox. Kyle Synder will be on the hill to start the game for the Sox.

Friday night marks the day that the Red Sox Nation has been waiting for. It is the highly anticipated debut of Daisuke Matsuzaka. He will be on the hill as the Sox take on the Boston College Eagles. The game will be televised back to Japan and will also be available here in New England on NESN from 6 to 7 as they have hockey commitments with the Boston Bruins. I am just glad we get to see that. It will be interesting not only to watch him pitch but to see how him and Varitek work together. Plus it will be funny to see all the Japanese media crunch into the smaller ballpark.

Terry Francona must have decided that Manny Ramirez got his “baseball legs” under him because he announced on Thursday that Manny will make his spring training debut in the afternoon game. Most likely he will get two at-bats and will play the outfield.

Heres a good article on Sox.com about how the Red Sox are the hottest topic in spring training right now.

Technorati: Boston Red Sox, Terry Francona, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Manny Ramirez

I was perusing ESPN.com last night and came across this article about Charlie Villanueva. Now I will be honest with you, I thought the reason he was bald was because he shaved his head. But that’s not the case as Villanueva suffers from alopecia universalis.

Alopecia areata (al-oh-PEE-shah air-ee-AH-tah) is a highly unpredictable, autoimmune skin disease resulting in the loss of hair on the scalp and elsewhere on the body as defined by the National Alopecia Areata Foundation. It affects only 1.7% percent of the population. Basically what happens is the white blood cells attack the hair follicles causing hair loss in spots. It usually starts out as spots before turning to complete hair loss.

Villanueva was diagnosed with alopecia at the age of 10 and was bald by the age of the 12. Because he was bald at such a young age, he was constantly picked on and ridiculed. This only made him stronger and he took out his frustrations on the basketball court. He was drafted in the 1st round as the 7th pick overall out of the University of Connecticut by the Toronto Raptors. After one season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

He is now the national spokesman for the NAAF and also has his own foundation (Charlie Villanueva Foundation), which is a non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating bullying through programs focused on outlets of self-expression and growth. He also does something called “Charlie’s Road Angels Program” which encourages youths affected by the disease to attend games in their towns.

For all the bad news we see about the athletes, it is really nice to see a good story about an athlete. I highly encourage you to read the article. Here is the link.

Technorati: Charlie Villanueva, Alopecia

The UCONN athletic department announced one change to the UCONN football schedule for this season. ESPN has decided to broadcast and move the game against the Louisville Cardinals to October 19th at 8:00 PM from October 20th. The game will also be the homecoming game for the Huskies.

I don’t know how I feel about the late start but the exposure that the football program will get supersedes whatever I feel.

Look for more changes as we get closer to the season as I am sure there will be other television commitments that change the schedule. This marks the 3rd time that the two schools have faced each other on ESPN.