Brady Suffers His Largest Loss

Tom Martinez and Tom Brady

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has 41 losses on the football field in his career, but the loss he suffered tonight may be the largest by far.  Tom Martinez, Brady’s personal quarterback guru, passed away today at age 66 after a heart attack suffered during a dialysis session.

Brady recently used his status to help get the information out about how important organ donation is and that his mentor Martinez was in need of a kidney transplant on CBS’ 60 Minutes.

Martinez, who lived in California, was in need of the transplant due to diabetes.  He has been the 2-time NFL MVP’s quarterback coach since his youth football days in the San Mateo area and the pair talked all the time about Brady’s mechanics and what he needed to improve on.

Recently, Brady teamed up with the Canton, MA based “Matching Donors” organization hoping that his high profile status would spark the donation to help his longtime friend.

Don’t forget it’s easy to become an organ donor, when you renew your drivers license just check the organ donation box or register with your states organ donor registry and talk to your family and make sure they know you are an organ donor. 

For more information on organ donation go to organdonor.gov.

Update: Brady posted the following statement on his Facebook page.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my coach, mentor and friend. Coach Martinez’s invaluable assistance and support will never be forgotten and will always have a lasting impact on my life. The time we spent together remain some of my fondest memories. His legacy of commitment, toughness and determination will live on forever.”

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII

Photo credit: Boston.com

Video: Jon Lester Hopes To Crack 200 Innings in 2012

With the Boston Red Sox having their first workout under the belts at Fenway South, Jon Lester took some time and stopped by the NESN Live set to talk with Tom Caron and Peter Gammons.

In the interview, Lester talked about his 2011 season and his expectations for 2012.

Watch this video on your smartphone

Click on the read more button below to watch part 2 of the interview

Watch this video on your smartphone

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Red Sox Finally Receive Compensation From Cubs

After months of indecision and not coming to an agreement on compensation for Theo Epstein, the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs passed the matter on to MLB commissioner Bud Selig a few weeks ago. But before Selig could reach his decision, the two sides finally agreed to a deal.

As compensation for Epstein, the Red Sox will receive RHP Chris Carpenter, no not the one who won the NL Cy Young, and a player to be named later in exchange for a player to be named later. To make room for Carpenter on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox have placed Bobby Jenks on the 60-day DL.

Here’s the release from the Red Sox:

The Boston Red Sox today acquired right-handed pitcher Chris Carpenter and a player to be named later from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for a player to be named later. To make room for Carpenter on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox placed right-handed pitcher Bobby Jenks on the 60-day disabled list as he recovers from back surgery.

Boston Red SoxWith the trade, the compensation for Theo Epstein joining the Cubs as the team’s President of Baseball Operations is complete. The transaction has been agreed upon by both clubs.

Carpenter, 26, made his Major League debut with Chicago in 2011 and posted a 2.79 ERA (3 ER/9.2 IP) over his 10 games with the Cubs, all out of the bullpen. He limited left-handed batters to a .143 average (2-for-14) and held opponents scoreless in eight of 10 outings. The right-hander also combined for 32 relief appearances between Chicago’s Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa clubs last year, going 3-4 with two saves and a 5.91 ERA (28 ER/42.2 IP) between the two stops.

Selected by the Cubs in the third round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, Carpenter owns a 21-19 record, two saves, a 3.62 ERA (137 ER/341.0 IP) and 289 strikeouts in 96 career minor league games (60 starts) in Chicago?s system. He started 60 of his first 64 professional outings and has appeared in relief in each of his last 42.

Carpenter led all Cubs minor leaguers with a 2.82 ERA (41 ER/130.2 IP) in 2009 and was named an Arizona Fall League Rising Star in 2010.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

“Sunday MLB on TBS” Returns with Multiple Appearances by the Yankees & Red Sox During April and May

MLB on TBS

The ‘boys of summer’ will return to TBS as the network opens its 26-game Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season schedule on Sunday, April 8, with the Tampa Bay Rays hosting their American League East division rival the New York Yankees. The “Sunday MLB on TBS” schedule for 2012, which includes match-ups on the network every Sunday afternoon throughout the regular season, includes multiple appearances by the New York Yankees (April 8, April 29 and May 6) and the Boston Red Sox (April 15, May 20 and May 27). The schedule will also feature a rematch of the 2011 ALCS when Josh Hamilton and the two-time defending AL champion Texas Rangers visit Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers on April 22 at 1 p.m. (ET). Other highlights of the early schedule include:

  • April 8: The “Sunday MLB on TBS” schedule gets underway with Derek Jeter and the Yankees taking on Evan Longoria and the Tampa Bay Rays (1:30 p.m. ET).
  • May 13: A National League showdown featuring the 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals hosting the Atlanta Braves (2 p.m. ET).
  • May 20: Interleague match-up between two star-studded squads when Adrian Gonzalez and the Red Sox visit Hunter Pence and the Philadelphia Phillies (1:30 p.m. ET).

The network will also exclusively televise the 2012 MLB All-Star Selection Show on Sunday, July 1. In October, TBS will once again provide exclusive coverage of all four MLB Division Series (DS) and the American League Championship Series (ALCS). The network will announce future games on its schedule coinciding with its selection windows.

2012 SUNDAY MLB ON TBS SCHEDULE

Date

Time (ET)

Game

Sunday, April 8

1:30 p.m.

New York Yankees @ Tampa Bay Rays

Sunday, April 15

1:30 p.m.

Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox

Sunday, April 22

1 p.m.

Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers

Sunday, April 29

1 p.m.

Detroit Tigers @ New York Yankees

Sunday, May 6

2 p.m.

New York Yankees @ Kansas City Royals

Sunday, May 13

2 p.m.

Atlanta Braves @ St. Louis Cardinals

Sunday, May 20

1:30 p.m.

Boston Red Sox @ Philadelphia Phillies

Sunday, May 27

1:30 p.m.

Tampa Bay Rays @ Boston Red Sox

TBS has broadcast MLB coverage for more than 30 years serving as the exclusive home of the MLB Division Series (DS) and one League Championship Series (LCS) since 2007 and home of Atlanta Braves coverage from 1977 to 2007.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 2/21

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team as they are in Pittsburgh, PA for a Big East matchup with the Pitt Panthers. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised in Connecticut on CPTV.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Doty Had Tooth Re-Bonded Sunday [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

Huskies Look To Move On After Disappointing Loss To St. John’s [Rich Elliott – CT Post]

No. 4 UConn Set For Pitt On Tuesday [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn women look to regroup at Pitt [CT Post]

Loss To St. John’s Proved Geno’s Point [Hartford Courant]

Sophomore season hasn’t been an easy one for Stefanie Dolson [New Haven Register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

George Blaney’s Take [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Wrapping Things Up From Philly [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Shabazz Has Pizzazz [David Borges – New Haven Register]

the wrap [Ed Daigneault – The Republican-American]

Notes/Quotes from Villanova: “I hit that and I was like ‘Bullseye.’” [Kevin Duffy – CT Post]

Shabazz shocks ‘em all [Neill Ostrout – Journal Inquirer]

On the Brink [UConn Huskies Basketball]

Napier’s long 3 lifts UConn in thriller [CT Post]

No decision made on UConn’s 2013 tournament fate [CT Post]

UConn Beats Villanova In Overtime, 73-70 [Hartford Courant]

Notebook: UConn’s 2013 Tournament Life Still Being Debated [Hartford Courant]

Napier Backed Up His Talk When It Counted [Hartford Courant]

Shabazz Napier 3-pointer gives Huskies OT win over Villanova [New Haven Register]

Other UConn related links

Baseball. Ward Named BIG EAST Pitcher of the Week [UConnHuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame 2012 Nominees

Carl Everett's Crazy Hall of Fame

Sox & Dawgs established Carl Everett’s Crazy Hall of Fame in 2007 and its members are, like any Hall of Fame, in rarified air.  Only this air lacks a lot of common sense and is full of batshit crazy.  In fact that along with the incident happening on or in relation to the field of play is the only way to get into this Hall.  We don’t induct folks based on off the field incidents like spousal abuse, DUI, dog fighting, etc.

In the five years since the Hall was established it has 14 Charter Members, among them its namesake, as well as Ron Artest, Todd Bertuzzi, Albert Haynesworth, Serena Williams and Connecticut’s very own, Bill Romanowski.

The Hall also has 44 Regular Members, which include individuals like Julian Tavares, John Chaney, Delmon Young, Milton Bradley and Rasheed Wallace.  Pairs like Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson and teams like the Dallas Stars and Boston Bruins for their 2011 brawl.

We’d like you to take some time and vote for as many of the nominee’s as you like.  You can enter them in the comments or via Twitter @SteveMichaelsII.  Thanks in advance for your votes. This years potential class include a stripping coach, two references to “Slap Shot”, a mascot who drew blood, two of the NFL’s dirtiest players and a hockey brawl from the 1975 WHA Playoffs.

To see the nominees, plese click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Here are the nominations for this year’s class:

Nominee A:

In July 2005 Boston Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez wasn’t on the field as Wade Miller was prepared to deliver a pitch when low and behold Manny pops out of the door of Fenway’s fabled Green Monster.  So Miller throws the pitch and Tampa Bay outfielder Joey Gathright doesn’t swing, but on the next pitch he singles to left field in front of Ramirez who throws to home a tad late and wide.

After the game Miller admitted to not checking to see if Ramirez was in the field and as he said, “why would I check?”

So what was Manny doing behind the door? “I (urinated) in a cup,” said Ramirez.

The joys of Manny being Manny.

Nominee B:

An altercation between the basketball coach and a player on the Holy Family University basketball team in January of 2011 led to the resignation of the coach and the player unable to play due to his injury he sustained at the hands of the coach.

While conducting a rebound drill the coach, John O’Connor (possibly a terminator) knocked sophomore Matt Kravchuk to the ground during a rebounding drill.  O’Connor claims he was trying to “instill toughness in his team” after a poor performance in the teams prior game.

Camera’s caught O’Connor knocking Kravchuk to the ground and then kicking him to get up and finish the drill.  When a dazed Kravchuk got up and walked to end of the line O’Connor shouted, “what’s the matter got a little blood on ya?  Good.”

The incident led to the coach resigning after coaching five more games before the incident became public.

Nominee C:

Vanderbilt Commodore mascot, Mr. C., went into the student section of the stands at a home basketball game against Tennessee.  Mr. C. proceeded to put the Commodores fan in a mock chokehold and then accidentally struck him in the face with a right hook hard enough to draw blood.

Mr. C. was stunned when the student needed attention to stop the bleeding.  It wasn’t the only beating that Vanderbilt took that night, Tennessee came back from a double-digit deficit to win 60-51 on the road.

Nominee D:

In the third period of a CHL hockey game in February 2011, between the Colorado Eagles and the Mississippi River Kings, a Colorado player was tackled hard to the ice during an altercation by an official.

Greg Pankewicz, Colorado’s assistant coach, became irate at officials for the takedown, which led to the player getting injured.  So after screaming and throwing stuff on the ice, Pankewicz took to stripping, reminiscent of a scene from the movie “Slap Shot”.

While in slap shot it was an on ice player who did the strip tease, Pankewicz started taking his clothes off on the bench and throwing them onto the ice.  After methodically taking off his three-piece suits, shirt, tie and loafers and chucking it all on the ice he was sent to the dressing room.

He was suspended for the remainder of the regular season (14 games) for his action and was allowed to return during the playoffs.

Nominee E:

University of Texas-El Paso head basketball coach Tim Floyd, was ejected during a game against East Carolina in February 2011.  Floyd earned a warning for being out of the coaches box and according to him he was barely out of the box.  Floyd said he turned his back and walked back to the bench and got a technical foul.  He said he always earns his technicals and because he felt he didn’t earn this one, he throw a fit.

He was so out of control he received his second technical, which resulted in his ejection from the game.  But Floyd wasn’t done as he refused to leave the court.  That was until a police officer escorted him to the UTEP locker room.

Nominee F:

On March 8, 2011 Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara slammed Montreal Canadiens player Max Pacioretty into the corner glass stantion that separates the two team benches as the two players skated up ice battling for the puck during a game at the Bell Center in Montreal.

Pacioretty was boarded and collared and wheeled from the ice having reportedly suffered a concussion and fractured vertebrae in his neck while Chara was given a major penalty and a game misconduct.  Montreal Police threatened battery charges but decided to forego them.

Chara also avoided a suspension by the NHL for the hit.

Nominee G:

Detroit Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh was ejected from a NFL game on Thanksgiving Day for stomping and kicking Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith after it appeared that the Lions had stopped the Packers on an important third down play.  The resulting penalty gave Green Bay a first down, which led to a touchdown and a win.

Suh was suspended by the NFL following in the incident for two games.

Nominee H:

Los Angeles Lakers forward Andrew Bynum was ejected and suspended from a playoff game on May 8, 2011 against the Dallas Mavericks after a dirty foul on guard J.J. Barea.  With the Mavs up by 30 points late in the game Barea drove the lane for a lay up when Bynum threw a blatant elbow to his ribs.  Barea landed hard and the referee immediately called a flagrant foul and ejected Bynum from the game.

Two games earlier in the series, Barea had been clothes lined by the Lakers Ron Artest who got suspended for the following game. Artest, a Charter Member of the Hall, is now ironically known as “Metta World Peace”.

Bynum was suspended originally for five games at the beginning of the next season but had it reduced to four on appeal.

Nominee I:

In December 2010, New York Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi was fined $25,000 by the Jets and suspended for the remainder of the season for tripping Miami Dolphins player Nolan Carroll as the player ran along the Jets sideline during a game.

The Jets later accepted Alosi resignation after finding out he routinely instructed the inactive players to form a wall so as to potentially impede the progress of opposing players.

The Jets were also fined $100,000 by the NFL. Alosi was recently hired to the strength and conditioning coach for the UCLA Football team by new head coach Jim Mora Jr. starting with the 2012 season where he will teach his technique to college students.

Nominee J:

Pittsburgh Steelers LB James Harrison is regarded as one of the NFL’s dirtiest players.  He has accumulated numerous fines and a suspension the last few seasons for his illegal and borderline dirty play on the field.

This past season he got suspended for his hit on a defenseless Cleveland Browns QB Colt McCoy, which left McCoy with a concussion.

McCoy was rolling to his left to throw a bubble screen when, after releasing the ball, Harrison took at least two full strides before leveling a helmet to helmet hit on the quarterback which brought a flag for roughing the passer.  Harrison was later suspended by the NFL for the play and his continued dirty hits on opposing players.

Nominee K:

In 2010 while playing for the New England Patriots S Brandon Meriweather leveled a helmet to helmet hit on Baltimore Ravens TE Todd Heap that left Heap knocked out and concussed.

During a mid season game at Gillette Stadium Heap was running a pass patter across the middle of the field.  Ravens QB Joe Flacco threw to Heap who was violently hit by Meriweather as the ball arrived.  Meriweather was deemed to have launched himself into Heap causing the collision and injury and was fined by the NFL.

Nominee L:

The “Brawl in the Mall” between the New England Whalers and Minnesota Fighting Saints in Game 2 of the 1975 WHA Playoffs started when Fighting Saints coach Harry Neale decided to shake things up by putting Bill Butters on the ice with fellow bruisers Jack Carlson and Curt Brackenberry.  Shortly after taking the ice, Minnesota’s Butters hit New England’s Larry Pleau with a cheap shot from behind, starting a full fledged donnybrook that caused a delay that lasted 32 minutes.  The mele itself had 189 minutes in penalties and featured a heavyweight battle between Carlson, of “Slap Shot” movie fame, and Whalers enforcer Nick Fotiu, a former Golden Gloves champion, that started on the ice and continued in the penalty boxes.  Even the two goalies, John Garrett and Al Smith, got into it.  Not sure there ever was or has been a brawl like it.

Nominee M:

Tom Cable former head coach of the Oakland Raiders punched out an assistant coach during a meeting in 2009.  He then denied hitting Randy Hansen claiming he instead fell from his rolling chair to the ground and that’s what caused his fractured jaw.

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII