Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 1/9

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team as they are in Washington, D.C. to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. The game is scheduled to start at 12 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

The UConn Huskies women’s basketball team is also in action on Saturday afternoon as the North Carolina Tar Heels come to Gampel Pavilion. The game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on CBS. If you can’t catch the television broadcast, you can listen to the game on the WTIC/UConn Radio Network.

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Quote of the Day: Scott Boras

Scott Boras - Major League Asshole

“A pillow contract is, basically, you lay down, it’s comfortable, it’s soft, it’s there. But the fact of the matter is it’s not with you all the time. That’s a one-year contract. Your pillow, you leave it, you come back, it’s there. Short-term, you use it for a little bit, then you move on.”

Agent Scott Boras on the type of contract Adrian Beltre signed with the Boston Red Sox

Jackie MacMullan fake Twitter account removed

Editor’s Note: This is also featured on Batter-up with Bruno

Twitter is known for having fake accounts for athletes and famous movie stars and singers. But now it’s reached a new level particular to people who honestly have nothing better else to do.

There was a fake Twitter account for former Boston Globe sports columnist and Around the Horn panelist Jackie MacMullan.

I was one of those roughly 500+ followers who was duped into following the account thinking it was the real Jackie Mac.

This evening there was a suspicious tweet that arose from the account saying, J_MacMullan “Hearing Adrian Gonzalez for Ellsbury, Buchholz, Kelly, and Reddick.”

Like a smart person I retweeted it, but then decided to delete it a minute later.

About five minutes afterwards Ian M. Browne of MLB.com tweeted: “A co worker just told me that Jackie MacMullan’s fake twitter account said Adrian Gonz for Ellsbury, Buchholz Kelly, and Reddick. Classic!” Then I went back to check the fake twitter account and the page magically doesn’t exist anymore, but if you search for “Jackie MacMullan” you’ll see two accounts. One looks legit, but is fake and one that looks fake and probably is another fake one.

What is seriously wrong with people? And the best part is that MacMullan probably has no idea about it.

Amanda Bruno is a freelance sportswriter for The Springfield Republican and also writes weekly features for the Plus Papers on Wednesdays. She also writes over at Batter-up with Bruno where she shares her thoughts about the Boston Red Sox and the Boston sports media. You can follow her on Twitter @batterupbruno and can reach Amanda through email at brunosportshawk[at]gmail.com.

The SOX & Dawgs Bowl Spectacular Winner Is….

4th Annual SOX & Dawgs Bowl Spectacular

Leisure Ladd.

Congratulations to my father, Ladd, on winning the 4th Annual SOX & Dawgs Bowl Spectacular who finished with 449 points by getting 27-of-34 bowl games correct.

For his efforts, he has won a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate and a guest post here on the site.

Thank you to everyone for playing and your support of SOX & Dawgs. It is very much appreciated.

Here’s a look at the final standings:

Rank Pick Set Correct Picks Points
1 Leisure Ladd Ladd m 27 of 34 449
2 Tyler’s Pick TylerM 21 of 34 395
3 Gonna_Beat_Ian Ghandi 21 of 34 388
4 carolina Jim 19 of 34 388
5 CMal33 ljm 19 of 34 386
6 tunwin22 timu 25 of 34 381
7 Vuder’s Picks Vu Tran 20 of 34 370
8 Malloy mm101699 18 of 34 362
9 CollegeBowlWinners skifreenh 20 of 34 362
10 NHHusky jchaseterps 17 of 34 350
11 TheDonaldBrown juvscorpion 20 of 34 348
12 Ken Day1 Kenny D 19 of 34 344
13 scottlvbethune scottlv2003 17 of 34 343
14 No Clue bucklethis 17 of 34 337
15 Ian’s picks * Ian 20 of 34 331
16 rolltide rolltide1702 17 of 34 329
17 Sugar Plum Tebow Jeffrey 16 of 34 326
18 The Mean Machine Anthony 17 of 34 322
19 PizzaBowl bowljunking 18 of 34 315
20 Bowling for Gift Cards MarissaP 16 of 34 310
21 Freebase My Balls Sooze 16 of 34 309
22 Pats&UConn Daniel 16 of 34 306
23 dan danblanchette 16 of 34 298
24 Papa John’s Recipe BMW 17 of 34 297
25 CMSB Matty MattB 16 of 34 292
26 cuzinB bruceb04 16 of 34 290
27 GA Husky Fan j2huskies 15 of 34 279
28 suebeewankenobi sbethune 16 of 34 244

2009 NCAA Football Final Rankings

AP Top 25 USA Today Top 25
RK TEAM RECORD PTS RK TEAM RECORD PTS
1 Alabama (60) 14-0 1500 1 Alabama (58) 14-0 1,450
2 Texas 13-1 1399 2 Texas 13-1 1,360
3 Florida 13-1 1370 3 Florida 13-1 1,323
4 Boise State 14-0 1366 4 Boise State 14-0 1,312
5 Ohio State 11-2 1224 5 Ohio State 11-2 1,190
6 TCU 12-1 1163 6 TCU 12-1 1,104
7 Iowa 11-2 1126 7 Iowa 11-2 1,087
8 Cincinnati 12-1 1060 8 Penn State 11-2 1,071
9 Penn State 11-2 1016 9 Cincinnati 12-1 943
10 Virginia Tech 10-3 953 10 Virginia Tech 10-3 940
11 Oregon 10-3 886 11 Oregon 10-3 846
12 Brigham Young 11-2 806 12 Brigham Young 11-2 814
13 Georgia Tech 11-3 768 13 Georgia Tech 11-3 741
14 Nebraska 10-4 724 14 Nebraska 10-4 671
15 Pittsburgh 10-3 697 15 Pittsburgh 10-3 667
16 Wisconsin 10-3 571 16 Wisconsin 10-3 587
17 LSU 9-4 501 17 LSU 9-4 530
18 Utah 10-3 491 18 Utah 10-3 466
19 Miami (FL) 9-4 310 19 Miami (Fla.) 9-4 336
20 Mississippi 9-4 296 20 Southern California 9-4 217
21 Texas Tech 9-4 224 21 Mississippi 9-4 192
22 USC 9-4 216 22 West Virginia 9-4 159
23 Central Michigan 12-2 166 23 Texas Tech 9-4 152
24 Clemson 9-5 125 24 Central Michigan 12-2 123
25 West Virginia 9-4 91 25 Oklahoma State 9-4 92
Others receiving votes:
 		Others receiving votes:
Oklahoma 90, Oregon State 89, Navy 85, Stanford 67, Oklahoma State 40, Rutgers 37, Auburn 8, Georgia 7, Florida State 6, Connecticut 5, Arizona 5, Middle Tennessee 4, Air Force 3, Arkansas 3, Villanova 2 Navy 89; Oregon State 78; Clemson 75; Oklahoma 67; Stanford 49; Auburn 17; Georgia 13; Houston 12; Middle Tennessee 12; Arizona 11; Arkansas 10; Connecticut 10; Florida State 9; Air Force 7; Rutgers 7; Northwestern 6; East Carolina 4; Southern Methodist 1.
Dropped out: Dropped out:
No. 16 Oregon State, No. 19 Stanford, No. 21 Oklahoma State, No. 22 Arizona No. 20 Oregon State, No. 21 Stanford, No. 23 Arizona, No. 25 Houston

Huskies Spoil Elliott’s Return Home

Jamelle Elliott, former UConn championship player and assistant coach, gives her former boss, Geno Auriemma, a face squeeze at the end of the game - Stephen Dunn/Hartford Courant

Jamelle Elliott had spent the past 17 years in Storrs, CT as player and as a coach. When she had an opportunity to take a head coaching job, she took it with the Cincinnati Bearcats. And when the schedule came out, she knew it was going to be an emotional game since it was on UConn’s home floor.

In the past, Cincinnati knew it was probably going to get spanked when it played UConn. But this wasn’t going to happen under Elliott’s watch. And it showed on Thursday night at Gampel Pavilion.

The Bearcats started strong then faded then was strong again but ultimately tired out as the Huskies spoiled her return home on Thursday night 83-51 behind 25 points by Maya Moore.

It’s the 53rd straight win for the Huskies who improve to 14-0 (3-0 in the Big East).  Elliott’s Bearcats fall to 7-7 (0-2).

The big blow for the Huskies came early in the first half when sophomore point guard Tiffany Hayes sprained her left ankle and left the game with just two points in two minutes of action. She’s listed as questionable for UConn’s next game on Saturday.

UConn's Caroline Doty (5) passes the ball while being guarded by Cincinnati's Michelle Jones in the first half - AP PhotoAll eleven Huskies scored as Moore also had eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.  Tina Charles added 17 points, five rebounds, four assists and six blocks. Caroline Doty rounded out the Huskies in double digits with 11 points.

Shareese Ulis led the Bearcats with 19 points. Cincinnati’s leading scorer Kahla Roudebush finished with 11 points. She came in averaging 16.3 points.

Probably to the shock of the 7,530 fans at Gampel Pavilion who may have been expecting a blowout despite Elliott’s presence, the Bearcats kept it close for the six minutes of the game as they trailed just 16-10. Then the Huskies turned it on as they went on a 13-2 run to up by 17 at 29-12.

The lead swelled to 26 when the Huskies went on a 13-4 run on their way to a 52-26 lead at the break.

The second half saw Geno Auriemma take it easy on his protege as he pulled the starters early in the second half. But when they allowed the Bearcats to cut a 29 point lead into a 16 point lead, he put the starters back in for a few minutes.

A 10-0 run made sure the Bearcats would get no closer the rest of the way.

With just one day off before the North Carolina Tar Heels come to Gampel Pavilion on Saturday, I highly doubt we’ll see Hayes play in that one. Hopefully what we’ll see is Lorin Dixon have a career game like she did last year against the Heels.

The game on Saturday will start at 4 p.m. and will be nationally televised on CBS.

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Former Husky Larry Taylor Signs Reserves/Future Contract With Jets

Former UConn Huskies wide receiver/kick returner Larry Taylor has signed a reserve/futures contract with the New York Jets. Larry Taylor - CBC photoFor those who don’t know what a reserves/futures contract is, it’s defined as the following:

Players who are not on an NFL team’s active roster when the 2009 season ends are eligible

Taylor has spent the past two seasons playing the CFL with the Montreal Allouettes. He had 89 punt returns for 788 yards with two touchdowns in 2009. He also had 51 kick returns for 1,059 yards. Taylor was named as the CFL’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player and was also a conference and CFL All-Star. While at UConn, he was probably best known for his infamous unfair catch.