Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 10/26

RIP Jasper Howard 1989-2009 Here is a press release from the UConn Huskies athletic department concerning the funeral of Jasper Howard, who died tragically last Saturday night.

STORRS , Conn. (October 25, 2009) – The funeral of University of Connecticut football student-athlete Jasper Howard, who passed away on October 18, will be streamed live on the internet. The funeral will take place on at the New Birth Baptist Church in Miami, Fla., beginning at 11:00 a.m. The service will be streamed live at www.nbbcmiami.org To view, select view live services and at the next page, select view the live broadcast via Streaming Faith.

Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 10/25

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Football links

Report Card (West Virginia) [Desmond Conner – Hartford Courant]

UConn coach Edsall feels ’empty’ after emotional loss [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]

Big East helmet stickers, Week 8 [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]

Farewell from Morgantown [Neill Ostrout – Connecticut Post]

West Virginia, Connecticut Honor Jasper Howard Before Game [AP via BigEast.org]

Jazz would be proud, but UConn can’t upset WVU [Connecticut Post]

‘I think he’s proud of us’ [Connecticut Post]

UConn football notebook: Close loss was painful [Connecticut Post]

UConn’s Valiant Effort Comes Up Painfully Short [Hartford Courant]

Remembering Jasper Howard [Hartford Courant]

Edsall Applauds WVU Gestures [Hartford Courant]

Tributes To Jasper Howard [Hartford Courant]

UConn’s Moore Plays On With Thoughts Of Fallen Friend [Hartford Courant]

UConn Students Watch Football Game In Student Union Theater [Hartford Courant]

Tough Day For Teggart [Hartford Courant]

Devine’s Long Run Overcomes UConn [Hartford Courant]

Huskies driven, but fall in first game since Howard’s death [Norwich Bulletin]

Howard remembered at West Virginia game [Norwich Bulletin]

Devine’s TD run breaks Huskies’ hearts [New Haven Register]

Players, fans pay tribute to fallen cornerback [New Haven Register]

UConn unable to hold off West Virginia on emotion-filled day [New London Day]

Fallen Husky remembered [New London Day]

UConn Students Stand Behind the Huskies [NBC Connecticut]

Tributes to Jasper Howard Around College Football [WTIC.com]

Fans Give Respect to Heartbroken UConn Huskies [WDTV.com]

UConn Loses Game, But Win By Just Playing [CBS4.com]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Auriemma: Sophomore Hayes can do it all [Connecticut Post]

UConn women need new leader to step up [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

UConn Moments: Top 10 Men’s Games [Mike Anthony – Hartford Courant]

Alumni Profile: Ben Gordon [UConn Huskies Basketball]

A Look At The UConn Men’s Probable Starting 5 [Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Women’s Volleyball: Huskies’ Volleyball Stalls St. John Comeback Attempt with 3-2 Victory [UConnHuskies.com]

Field Hockey: No. 7 Field Hockey Posts 3-0 Shutout at Rutgers [UConnHuskies.com]

Men’s Soccer Game at Seton Hall Postponed to Sunday [UConnHuskies.com]

Women’s Ice Hockey: Two Goals on the Power Play Aid Huskies in 4-1 Women’s Ice Hockey Victory [UConnHuskies.com]

Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 10/24

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Football links

It’s game day for the UConn Huskies football team as they are in Morgantown, WV to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at 12:00 p.m. It will be a very emotional day for the Huskies as they take the field for the first time since the tragic death of cornerback Jasper Howard.

ESPNU has some special tributes planned during the game and will also air the moment of silence and the pregame handshake between the two teams. And if you missed my preview, be sure to check it out.

And if you hadn’t heard, UConn is selling officially-licensed Jasper Howard #6 T-Shirts. $16 of the $20 price will go to the two funds established by the school.

Friday Big East mailbag Part I: Honoring Howard, bowl talk [Big East Blog – ESPN.com]

For Jazz [John Silver – Journal Inquirer]

Athletes send off UConn [John Silver – Journal Inquirer]

Bad Chad to honor Jasper Howard [Chip Malafronte – New Haven Register]

UConn family comes together [Connecticut Post]

UConn football: Husky kickoff [Connecticut Post]

UConn at WVU: Huskies want to honor Howard with victory [Connecticut Post]

Game Capsule: UConn (4-2, 1-1 Big East) at No. 22 West Virginia (5-1, 1-0) [Hartford Courant]

An Emotional Game For UConn [Hartford Courant]

Grieving Huskies take next step, play at Mountaineers [Norwich Bulletin]

Grieving UConn tries to focus on football [AP via Norwich Bulletin]

Police: UConn killing witnesses threatened online [AP via New Haven Register]

UConn will battle emotions in midst of battling West Virginia [New Haven Register]

UConn to meet W.Va., as Huskies remember ‘Jazz [New London Day]

Grieving Huskies want to “win for Jazz” [Waterbury Republican-American]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

To The Readers Of The UConn Women’s Basketball Blog [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Countdown: 21 [TheUConnBlog.com]

Countdown:20 [TheUConnBlog.com]

Other UConn related links

Women’s Volleyball: UConn Takes to the Court at St. John’s in BIG EAST Volleyball Action on Saturday [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn Women’s Ice Hockey Wins Decisive 8-1 Game at Brown [UConnHuskies.com]

Women’s Soccer: UConn Clinches BIG EAST Tournament Berth With 0-0 Tie Against West Virginia [UConnHuskies.com]

Men’s Ice Hockey: Huskies Drop First AHA Game Of The Season To Bentley 4-3 [UConnHuskies.com]

Officially-Licensed Jasper Howard T-Shirt Produced

Here is a press release from the UConn Huskies athletic department about Jasper Howard t-shirts being available for sale.

STORRS, Conn. – An official University of Connecticut-licensed limited edition No. 6 t-shirt is now being produced by Tee’s Plus/Powers Inc. in Groton, Conn. The t-shirt is being made to commemorate University of Connecticut football student-athlete Jasper Howard, who died on Sunday, Oct. 18.

Jasper Howard T-Shirt The Navy Blue tee will have a No. 6 (Howard’s number) on both the front and the back panels as well as No. 6 on both the left and right sleeves (short sleeve tee). In addition, the word mark UCONN is located on the front panel above the No. 6 in the neck area.

As of Friday afternoon, significant orders had been received at Tee’s Plus from three separate retailers — the UConn Co-op, 13 Bob’s Stores locations throughout the state and Husky Wear in the Shoppes at Buckland Hills in Manchester.

Product should begin being available at physical store locations by the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 26.

In addition, the UConn Co-op website (www.huskydirect.com) and the Husky Wear website (www.huskywear.com) will be taking orders on-line throughout this weekend.

The retail price of the Navy Blue tee will be $20 and 100% of all profit realized between the wholesale cost of the tees for the retailers and the $20 retail price will be donated to the two funds established in Jasper Howard’s honor (The Jasper T. Howard Endowed Scholarship and The Jasper Howard Fund).

In addition to the No. 6 tees being available throughout the week at the various locations listed above, the No. 6 Navy Blue tee will also be on sale Saturday, October 31, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford when UConn hosts Rutgers.

Editor’s note: According the to UConn Co-op website, $16 of every t-shirt sold will go to the two funds. And on a personal note, I’ve already ordered two.

Hoyer To Be Named GM Of Padres

Jed Hoyer - Getty Images

Another one of Boston Red Sox GM Theo Epstein’s brain trust is leaving for a general manager’s job.

According to multiple baseball sources, Red Sox assistant GM Jed Hoyer will be named the GM of the San Diego Padres next week. He will replace former GM Kevin Towers who was let go on October 3rd. Towers had been longest tenured GM before his departure.

Hoyer has been in the GM position before as he held the co-GM position when Epstein went on his 44 day sabbatical in 2005. He held that position with along with current Arizona Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes.

Ironically enough, it could be Towers who replaces Hoyer with the Red Sox. Epstein worked under Towers in the Padres organization starting in 1995. He eventually took over the baseball operations job before being named GM of the Red Sox in 2002.

If you’re a Padres fan, you can expect some good things to come from Hoyer. I would expect the quality of draft picks to increase plus I wouldn’t be surprised to see the “Red Sox way” take over in their minor league organization.

Padres to name Jed Hoyer GM early next week [CBSSports.com]

Paw Prints – UConn Huskies (4-2, 1-1) @ West Virginia Mountaineers (5-1, 1-0) Preview

Paw Prints - UConn Football

This week:

UConn Huskies @ West Virginia Mountaineers

The UConn Huskies travel to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in what will be a very emotional game for the Huskies.

Here are the rosters for the Huskies and the Mountaineers.

The Line/Prediction:

According to Rivals.com odds, West Virginia is favored by 7 points. The over/under is 47.5 points. My prediction is West Virginia 31 UConn 17.

Tickets:

The game is sold-out as it is homecoming for West Virginia.

Getting To The Game:

Here is everything you need to know about Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Here is their football gameday policies along with directions to the stadium. Here are the parking policies and parking map. Here is a seating chart for Milan Puskar stadium. Here is the weather forecast for tomorrow’s game as well.

BROADCAST INFORMATION

Television:

Saturday’s game wil be televised nationally by ESPNU.

Clay Matvick is on play-by-play while David Diaz-Infante is on the color commentary.

Radio:

For the 18th 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 side lines and Eric Davis on production.

The UConn pregame show begins 90 minutes prior to kickoff, while home games, the UConn Tailgate Show will air two and a half hours prior to the game with Arnold Dean. 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.

West Virginia Radio:

Mountaineer Sports Network – (Tony Caridi – play-by-play, Dwight Wallace – analyst, Hoppy Kercheval – host, Jed Drenning – sideline) will broadcast the game live.

Satellite Radio Broadcast – The West Virginia – UConn game can be heard live on Sirius Channel 127 and XM 203 with the MSN broadcast.

Internet broadcasts of WVU games are available by accessing MSNsportsNET.com and clicking on the Live Event Coverage button down the left-hand column of the athletics home page.

Continue reading →

Paw Prints – The Daily Roundup – 10/23

Paw Prints The Daily Roundup

UConn Football links

All football news will be in the upcoming preview for tomorrow’s game against West Virginia. And here’s a video of the tear jerker speech that Kijuan Dabney gave at Wednesday night’s vigil for Jasper Howard.

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Big East media day in the books [Jim Fuller – New Haven Register]

answer time! [Alysa Auriemma]

A Reunion For Former UConn Assistant Jamelle Elliott [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Perretta: UConn Women Can Break UCLA Record [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Two Philly Guys Pumped Up Over Phillies [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Hayes Makes the Cut [Rich Elliott – Connecticut Post]

No surprises at Big East women’s media day [Connecticut Post]

Big East women’s notebook: Hayes deserving of honor [Connecticut Post]

UConn Women No. 1 In Big East Poll; Moore Preseason Player Pick [Hartford Courant]

Big East Women: New For Elliott, Top To Bottom [Hartford Courant]

UConn Talent Brings UCLA Talk [Hartford Courant]

Moore, UConn coaches’ picks in Big East [AP via Norwich Bulletin]

Stevens, Hayes growing up fast [New Haven Register]

Geno, Elliott on opposite ends of the spectrum [New Haven Register]

Notre Dame women ready to challenge Huskies in Big East [Waterbury Republican-American]

Big task ahead for Jamelle Elliott at Cincinnati [Waterbury Republican-American]

Can anyone challenge UConn? Big East coaches think not [The Star Ledger]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Countdown: 22 [TheUConnBlog.com]

Local hoops player visiting UConn when athlete slain [Las Vegas Sun]

Huskies don’t feel very safe [New York Post]

Other UConn related links

Men’s Soccer Looks for Ninth Straight Shutout at Seton Hall [UConnHuskies.com]

Huskies’ Women’s Ice Hockey Set to Face Two ECAC Opponents [UConnHuskies.com]

Baseball Announces 2010 Schedule [UConnHuskies.com]

Women’s Soccer: Huskies End Regular Season At Morrone [UConnHuskies.com]

Men’s Ice Hockey: Huskies Head Out To Bentley, Merrimack [UConnHuskies.com]

UConn Women Picked To Win 2009-10 Big East Conference

In what is probably no surprise to us fans up here in Connecticut, the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team was picked to win the 2009-10 Big East Conference at the annual media day held in New York City on Thursday morning.

UConn junior Maya Moore was chosen as the Big East Preseason Player of the Year and her teammates senior center Tina Charles and sophomore guard Tiffany Hayes join her on the Big East Preseason First Team. Kalana Greene was selected as a Big East Preseason Honorable Mention.

The Huskies will take on St. Rose College (11/5) and Vanguard (11/9) in exhibition games before opening the season against Northeastern University on November 14th at Gampel Pavilion.

2009-10 Preseason BIG EAST Coaches’ Poll
	Team	Pts.
1	Connecticut (15)	225
2	Notre Dame (1)	210
3	DePaul	171
–	Louisville	171
5	Pittsburgh	167
6	Rutgers	156
7	Syracuse	126
8	Georgetown	124
9	West Virginia	121
10	Marquette	111
11	USF	86
12	St. John’s	84
13	Villanova	78
14	Seton Hall	33
15	Providence	31
16	Cincinnati	26
*First-place votes in parentheses