Durzblog

New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Orlando and Hartford are supposedly the cities that the new UFL has chosen as homes to their six teams.

Hartford?? The Northland group, owner of much Hartford real estate and operator of Rentscher Field and the Civic (XL)Center (by way of Anschutz Entertainment Group), are the people attempting to lure the team to Connecticut.

The league's commissioner Michael Huyghue, a Windsor native, told SI's Peter King that Hartford would be among six sites given franchises. Reports also mention Mark Cuban and the Wilpon family as potential owners of the LA and New York teams.

A UFL spokesman offered that franchise locations could be officially announced in the next few weeks, they will begin play in 2009, will play games on Friday nights, and that one of their most coveted signings would be Michael Vick .

Rentschler Field, thought not confirmed as the facility of interest, is the only option in the area for this type of venture.

Stay tuned.

For a fourth time in 11 seasons, Detroit have won Lord Stanley's Cup. They used their immense experience advantage to knock out a young Penguins club on Wednesday night with a 3-2 victory in a series deciding sixth game.

Nicklas Lidstrom led the Red Wings to the title becoming the first European to captain a club to the championship in NHL history.

Mario may have his work cut out for him securing his young stars for the foreseeable future, but in whatever form Pittsburgh takes you get the feeling they will become a fixture in the NHL finals for some time to come.

The Red Wings could taste the bubbly last night, they could nearly feel the Cup in their hands...but the Penguins refused to die last night and have extended the series to a 6th game back in Pittsburgh. The super annoying "we want the cup" chants (clearly Detroit has won too many times...most crowds would have been nauseous in anticipation and not in the sing song mode) was silenced with 33 seconds to play as Maxime Talbot jammed the game tying goal home and forced OT. A couple of hours later Petr Sykora snapped home the winner ending the fifth-longest game in Stanley Cup finals history.

Check the highlights, 4-3 Pens

I guess now that it has been a week (officially in 6 hours) of mourning for the Huskies -- its time to get back to the sports world.

Monday I will be unveiling Durz's first annual MLB preview (I can't believe the baseball season is here)...the baseball season feels like a slow death to me most of the time -- but the beginning is always exciting and who knows.

The first Sox-Yanks series is only a couple of weeks a way, you can forget about Duke and UNC Hoops, that is the best rivalry American sports has to offer (in my unbiased east coast opinion).

Its not going to be all bad for the city of brotherly love this summer, come August there will be a brand new Phils fan in the world (whether Kris likes it or not this kid is going to be a cheese steak eating phitin's fan!)

News and Notes
NHL hockey, regular season is winding down and the Rangers are putting themselves in some decent shape in a jammed Eastern Conference. A home and home with the Islanders next week is going to tell a bit on where the blueshirts position themselves. Washington, Philadelphia and Boston will battle it out for the last two spots with only a handful of games to play. Nashville and Edmonton are chasing Vancouver for the final spot out West. UConn Football, Leon Kinnard, a 5-9, 180-pound quarterback from Baltimore, MD gave an oral commitment to UConn Thursday according to scout.com. Kinnard, who runs a 4.4 forty with great all around athleticism, also had an offer on the table from Maryland. Kinnard is the second oral commitment of the 2009 signing class, joining Seymour linebacker Mike Osiecki who committed earlier this month.

Husky Hoops, AJ price goes in for surgery today on his torn ACL in Farmington. The recovery time is expected to be six months. Godspeed. In addition yesterday Jimmy decided to open up the vault at Gampel and let out some juicy information. Calhoun says that at least two players (not including Thabeet) have played their last game at Uconn. For one it is a playing time issue (Curtis Kelly I suspect) and the other for conduct and academics (likely Doug Wiggins). There is an uproar on the message boards about how we don't want to lose our spark plug in Doug. I cannot stand his offensive game -- so I am really not going to miss him all that much. Calhoun's candor in talking about this is odd and certainly opens him up to criticism, some might see him sounding more like an NBA GM than a college coach. Be that as it may, I suspect Kelly to go looking for some minutes at another school and Dougie to actually get released from his scholarship because he absolutely refuses to learn from any mistakes and second chances that the Uconn basketball program has allowed him. Ater Majok is reportedly ready to step in and fill one of these new spots. Again this is all speculation as to specifics...but it looks like Wiggins is a goner and I don't mind. Matt Brady, in kind of a shocker (originally) -- Brady has left my old alma mater and has been named the head coach of James Madison University. Brady did well up at Marist and was a good hire by Tim Murray (now lets make it two in a row). As opposed to some weak whiny comments in the Poughkeepsie Journal, I wish Brady well -- he put the Foxes into the upper echelon of the MAAC and the Dukes have made a strong hire. PGA, it was nice to see Tiger not win at Doral last week! Nothing against Mr Woods but its nice to see winning a PGA tour event is not the easiest thing in the world as he has many causal viewers believing. Augusta is two weeks away and it would be awfully nice to see Tiger battling with Phil as they did in Boston last year. This week the Tour is in New Orleans and next week they go to Houston before heading to the year's first major. A tradition like no other...I actually just get excited thinking of listening to Clampett and Kratz calling the action around Amen Corner.

Fußball, The USMNT won at 3-0 at Poland on Wednesday, giving them consecutive victories in Europe for the first time ever. The Yanks play exhibitions at England on May 28 and at Spain on June 4. The U.S. starts World Cup qualifiers against Barbados on June 15 at Home Depot Center, then play at Barbados the following weekend. U.S. soccer completed plans Thursday to play Argentina in June at Giants Stadium. Speaking of Giants Stadium, Colombian forward Oscar Echeverry signed with the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday. Liverpool co-owner George Gillett revealed (to the BBC) that his relations with partner Tom Hicks (business partner that is to say) are now unworkable. Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium has been chosen as the venue for the 2010 Champions League final. Big Dance, the final four will be set this Sunday. Nova battles the Kansas Jayhawks tonight -- hoping to have two Big East teams in the elite 8. Odds don't seem great granted. I would look for Texas and Wisconsin to get comfortably into the next round, but I really don't know what to make of the Memphis/Michigan State tilt. Can the Spartans force a half court game on the Tigers? Saturday's Louisville/UNC game could be the event of the weekend -- my brackets are on life support and a Cards win could remedy that rather quickly. At least it would take me to the top of the standing with regards to the in laws...Congrats to Sean Miller and the Xavier Musketeers for getting to the Elite 8 last night -- great game, good to see a coach stick by a program in a non "power conference". Kansas and UCLA are looking like the best bets to get through, but you never know -- it is March after all. All the game are good.

Thats it for now, enjoy the weekend

Good luck greycat

It's over
Tiger is a man amongst boys and seems fully aware of that. Could be a grand slam in the making? As a golf fan (one that does not slurp Tiger) I must say that somebody needs to step up, his domination tends to be a little boring. Very impressive, but not exactly thrilling

results
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Sunday
The stage is set for Cink v Woods in a 36 hole final. Stew has been playing really well -- but 36 against Tiger hardly seems fair. Leonard and Stenson will play for 3rd place in the 18 hole consolation match. (by the way the consolation match needs to be done away with immediately)
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Saturday
Tiger survives tough match with Baddeley and moves on to face KJ Choi

The winner of that match will take on the victor of the other top quarters match between defending champion Stenson and Woody Austin. Justin Leonard is getting his game back into form, evidence by his knockouts of Aussies Ogilvy and Appleby -- no small feat.

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Friday
Silly me -- Tiger wins 14,15,16,17 to storm back on Holmes and win his match.
Phil also stands up to firm early test and beats Pat Perez 1 up. Tiger takes on Oberholser today and Phil will face a real test in world class Aussie Stu Appleby.

Other Round 2 matches that will be fun to watch:
Stenson v Immelman
Cink v Paddy
Stricker v Mahan
Westwood v Leonard

Shaping up to be a fine weekend of golf.
Sergio w/ two putters
full bracket

Notes
three matches went extra holes during Wednesday's first-round matches:
Vijay Singh def. Peter Hanson, 19 holes
Charles Howell III def. Stephen Ames, 19 holes
Steve Stricker def. Daniel Chopra, 20 holes
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Thursday
Rosie out -- good call Brendan, geez.

in other early action Els gets slapped 6 and 5 and Montgomerie wins battle of the turds over Jim Juryk. Tiger down a few to JB Holmes late. Exciting day thus far...A Woods loss would be a stunner and it looks like it might to happen

Brian Leetch's # 2 became the fifth Rangers number raised to the rafters last night at Madison Square Garden. Arguably the best U.S.-born player in NHL history will have his jersey forever hung with the greats of Ranger and Knick history.

In all of the people he thanked, and there were loads, interestingly Leetch never mentioned Rangers president Glen Sather. Brian clearly is still irritated over how he was traded from the Rangers toward the end of his career, receiving a phone call from Sather in a Boston hotel.


The Connecticut native made three appearances for the US in the Olympic Winter Games, was a 11-time All-Star, two-time winner of the Norris Trophy, captained Team USA to victory in the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and holds 24 NYR records, including goals (240) and points (981) for a defenseman, and career assists (741).

Post Coverage

oh by the way, Rangers hit break on high note, 2-1 in SO

Dark Day for America's Past Time

Here is the final list, in my opinion this report is very flawed -- based mostly on hearsay and not so much on evidence -- but its still a lot to swallow. The guys who made the final cut may have taken steroids , don't get me wrong, its just not inclusive of everyone who has done so (where the hell is Big Mac? and thanks for Grimsley but what about Sammy?). Lot of Yankees and Mets and that is a direct result of limited interviewing, whatever the case its still a really bad time in the Big Apple. Not sure how this will all play out, but a knee jerk reaction that many will have is that its no coincidence that a Red Sock executive led an investigation which resulted in damaging the Yankees reputation more than any other club.

I don't think that is the case, but lets be honest the 400 page report pretty much covers what two guys had to say (McNamee and Radomski). If trainers from the A's and Mariners were the ones arrested and forced to talk to Mitchell the report would look soo much different. So before there is an uproar calling the Yanks titles tainted, lets be clear, juiced players have played big roles on all baseball rosters in the last 20 years. My big problem with this report is it calls a couple guys out but it leaves other guilty players in the clear. At least Barry Bonds has company in that department now, he is not the only fall guy, welcome Roger Clemens.

courtesy of the Hartford Courant
Gary Bennett Jr, Cardinals catcher, career dates back to 1995
Howie Clark, Blue Jays infielder, in the majors since 2002. Played in 31 games for Toronto in 2007
Jack Cust, A's outfielder, played for five teams in a career that began in 2001.
Roger Clemens, eighth on baseball's all-time wins list
Brendan Donnelly, pitcher, released by the Red Sox this week and now a free agent
Ryan Franklin, Cardinals pitcher, began playing in 1999.
Eric Gagne, Brewers reliever, recently signed free agent deal. Won Cy Young in 2003 and three-time All-Star
Jerry Hairston Jr., Rangers outfielder, played in the majors since 1998 with three teams
Paul LoDuca, Nationals new catcher, signed this week as a free agent after playing the last two seasons with the Mets -- In the majors since 1998, four-time All-Star
Exavier Logan, Nationals outfielder, made his major-league debut in 2004 with the Tigers
Jim Parque, pitcher, in the majors from 1998-2003 with the Devil Rays and White Sox -- Pitched the 2007 in Triple-A for Seattle
Andy Pettitte, Yankees pitcher, signed a one-year, $16 million contract this week
Brian Roberts, Orioles second baseman, two-time All-Star
Mike Stanton, Reds pitcher, in the majors since 1989 and has played for eight teams including the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox
Miguel Tejada, Astros shortstop, AL MVP in 2002 -- Four-time All-Star
Ron Villone, Yankees pitcher -- In major leagues since 1995 and pitched for 10 teams
Rondell White, Twins outfielder, played for six other teams since 1993.
Todd Williams, Orioles pitcher, came up in 1995 and has pitched for four other teams, including the Yankees.
Greg Zaun, Blue Jays catcher, been in the majors since 1995

Former players

Chad Allen, outfielder, played in the majors from 1999-2005 with the Twins, Indians, Marlins and Ranger
Mike Bell, infielder, played 19 games for the Reds in 2000
Larry Bigie, outfielder, played for the Orioles, Rockies and Cardinals from 2001-06
Kevin Brown, pitcher, six-time All-Star, pitched in the majors from 1986-2005
Mark Carreon, outfielder, played for four teams from 1987-96
Jason Christianson, pitcher, 1995-2005 with four teams
Chris Donnels, infielder, played eight seasons for five teams - including the Mets and Red Sox – from 1991-2002
Lenny Dykstra, outfielder, played for the Mets and Phillies from 1985-96
Matt Franco, infielder, Mets, Braves and Cubs from 1995-2003
Jason Grimsley, pitcher for seven different teams from 1989-2006, last with Diamondbacks, who released him after his residence was searched in 2006
Matt Herges, Rockies pitcher, pitched in 38 games last season; been in the majors with seven teams since 1999
Phil Hiatt, utility player, played parts of four seasons in the majors, last in 2001.
Glenallen Hill, outfielder, played with seven teams from 1989-2001
Todd Hundley, catcher, two-time All-Star played for the Mets, Dodgers and Cubs.
David Justice, outfielder, three-time All-Star, played from 1989-2002 with the Braves, Yankees, Indians and A's. Accused of using human growth hormone.
Chuck Knoblauch, second baseman, four-time All-Star and AL rookie of the year in 1991 -- Played for the Twins, Yankees and Royals
Tim Laker, catcher, played for five different teams from 1992-2006
Mike Lansing, infielder, played from 1993-2001 with the Expos, Rockies and Red Sox
Josias Manzanillo, pitched for eight teams from 1991-2004, including the Red Sox, Mets and Yankees
Cody McKay, catcher, career minor-leaguer with short stops with A's (2002) and Cardinals (2004)
Kent Mercker, pitcher, on nine different teams from 1989-2006
Bart Miadich, pitcher, played professional baseball from 1998-2006 with two brief terms with the Angels
Hal Morris, first baseman, played with four teams – including the Yankees – from 1988-2000
Denny Neagle, pitcher, played from 1991-2003 for six teams, including the Yankees -- Two-time All-Star
Adam Piatt, outfielder, in the majors for parts of four seasons (2000-03) with the Devil Rays and A's
Todd Pratt, catcher, played with four teams – including the Mets – from 1992-2006
Stephen Randolph, pitcher, career minor-leaguer who pitched parts of 2003 and '04 with the Diamondbacks; and '07 with the Astros
Adam Riggs, outfielder, played parts of four season in the majors from 2000-03
F.P. Santangelo, utility player who spent parts of 1995-2001 with four different teams
David Segui, infielder, played for the Orioles, Mets, Expos, Mariners, Blue Jays, Rangers and Indians from 1990-2004
Mo Vaughn, first baseman, 1995 AL MVP with the Red Sox -- Played from 1991-2003
Fernando Vina, infielder, played from 1993-2004 with five teams, including the Mets -- Currently a commentator with ESPN.
Jeff Williams, pitcher, played parts of four seasons with the Dodgers from 1999-2002
Kevin Young, infielder, played in the majors from 1992-2003, primarily with the Pirates

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The only thing better than Stephon leaving the Knicks would be if "Starbury" took Isiah with him..Oh and if I woke up tomorrow and James Dolan had also sold the Garden to a non idiot. Pipe dreams, the lot of em, however today's action in Phoenix could be a step in the right direction. According to sources in the know, Steph and Mr Groper had a bit of a falling out this morning because Zeke told his PG that he was not getting the start tonight.

Mike Modano became the highest-scoring American in NHL history in the Dallas Stars' 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday night. Modano, a class guy with a classy game, scored two goals in the first 4:24 to surpass Phil Housley's career record for points by a U.S.-born player.The six-time All-Star has 1,233 points in 1,253 regular-season games -- 242 games fewer than Housley played. Modano became the American career goal-scoring leader March 17, and he extended his record to 511 goals with his two quick tallies.

Fitting that the 2nd most prolific American scorer in NHL history happened to be on the ice opposing Modano on the night, "It was really special to watch, especially the way he did it [with] two beautiful, beautiful goals," said Sharks forward Jeremy Roenick, who's one goal shy of becoming the third U.S.-born player with 500 goals.

Even though ESPN deemed this the 10th most important story of the night -- Lebron's triple-double in a losing effort was good for 20 minutes on Sportscenter -- it's a big deal. Congrats Mike.

Goodbye My Sweet Prince
Eric Lindros is expected to announce his retirement Thursday after 13 seasons in the NHL. The 34-year-old forward (who played for the Dallas Stars last season) had 372 goals and 493 assists in 760 games for Philadelphia, Toronto, the New York Rangers and Dallas. The always controversial Lindros won the Hart Trophy in 1995 and was part of the Canadian Olympic team that won gold in 2002. Amazingly, "the next one" (a Gretzky reference), only played in two NHL All Star games during a tumultuous career that left much to be desired for a player who was considered a lock to be a hall of famer as he entered the league in 1991. Parents who are jerks make kids who are jerks...

The Slowest game on earth is about to get slower
MLB GM's recommended Tuesday that instant replay be used to help umpires with "boundary calls" -- a major league first. The proposal, approved by a 25-5 vote, is to be limited to use in deciding whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers. The limited use is a good call...

Champagne in Piscataway
Come 2009 the University of South Florida and Rutgers University will be playing post season basketball, how you ask?...The Big East will include all 16 conference members in its basketball tournament beginning in 2009, after leaving four schools out of the postseason event since expanding in 2005-06.

Burly Loudmouth to stay in Beantown
Curt Schilling and the Boston Red Sox have reached an agreement on a one-year deal worth about $8 million in base salary and another $3 million in potential incentives. The deal also includes $2 million in weight clauses. On his blog Tuesday, Schilling wrote that bonuses are tied to six random weigh-ins. David Wells must be fuming.

So Long Marcus
Marcus Johnson has left the Connecticut basketball program. The highly rated Los Angeles recruit never quite lived up to his billing in Storrs. A nice kid who worked hard, I do wish him luck at his next destination. Matt Brady may have some room up in Poughkeepsie, i'm just saying

Hello Jimmy
According to the Washingtonpost.com, West Potomac High's (Alexandria, VA) Jimmy Bennett reportedly has accepted a scholarship offer from Uconn. The 6-foot-8, 275-pound offensive tackle is a huge feather in Edsall's cap. Bennett has received offers from Notre Dame, Boston College, Clemson, Michigan State, Penn State, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

Gametime for Uconn
The Uconn v Syracuse game time has been set for noon on Nov 17th and will air on espn2.

Arena shown the door
New York Red Bulls have ended the term of Bruce Arena as their head coach after they were knocked out of this year's MLS playoffs in the 1st round. Team official Marc de Grandpre said "I met with Bruce this morning to discuss the team and we decided it was in the best interests of the organization to part ways. We made progress this season, but it was not where we wanted to be." Look for Bruce to be back in the MLS before long.

Insult to Injury
Lot of nerve coming out of the Garden these days. As if it is not offensive enough to have Zeke still running the show, and all the groping and b#tch calling that it entails, today was a new low for the organization. Allen Houston HANDICAPPED the Knicks seemingly forever while collecting a $17 million a year salary and now after a quick two year retirement the Knicks decide to add him to a roster of Stephon (born again -- athough he supports Vick and has been known to hoop interns outside of stripclubs), a center with serious heart ailments and a reputed weeder at the 4. Luckily we have former Red Fox star Jared Jordan to step up -- first NBA star out of Kingswood Oxford I would imagine (Marist you ask, we now have 2!)

The Devil
The Joe Torre saga, likely to end by Monday, is very interesting and Mariano is adding some good back page fodder. However I just can't get enough of Scott Boras, what an absolute pig this guy is. 30-40 million per for A-rod, on what basis? This Alex is going to play until he is 45 and thus top Pete Rose's hit mark while hitting 1,000 home runs and thus generating powerful regional cable networks ratings that would actually make 40 a year a bargain. So what are the Kansas City Royals waiting for? Maybe the Marlins??

Who can afford his salary other than the Yanks, Sox, Mets -- perhaps the Dodgers or Angels? Its my hope that the Yanks call the bluff on Boras and give A-rod 150 for 6 years..see Boras has done its (his) job, suddenly it seems reasonable to pay 25 a year for a guy who can't bring the yanks a ring. I'm not mad at Alex though, i'm just saying.......