The PTBNL from the Rays has to be announced by Dec

Bowdens health at such an advanced age.It was the perfect gentle nudge when Jim Smith, Chair of the Florida State Board of Trustees, said that after a decade of decline in this cash cow that it was time to push Bobby out of his chair, no matter what the Coach thought about his ability to remain.Classy guy, that Jim Smith. You have to give him chops for being the courageous one, willing to stand out and speak his mind about Coach Bowden when all of Bobbys buddies and cronies in the Athletic Department were rallying around the aging leader and covering up all of his recent flaws.Stand up and give Jim Smith a round of applause for doing what needed to be done! After all, look at the exceptional service hes given to FSU Think about it. Despite being appointed to the FSU Board of Trustees in 2002 for a 4-year team by Florida Governor Charlie Crist, Smith has been gracious enough to stay on well past his tenure expiration date.Never mind that Smith used to be a lobbyist and theres a 2005 State law that prohibits those honest and hard working citizens from serving on any State University trustee board.Got to admit the people at FSU and all those legions of fans and boosters have to be grateful for Smiths leadership role at a time like this.And speaking of all those people who have FSU DNA at their very core, this has got to be a big day to celebrate wheeling old man Bowden out of his office and finally turning the football program over to Jimbo Fisher.CLICK HERE FOR THE REMAINDER OF THIS ARTICLE, with kudos for public humiliation and forgetting all about the man who made the program and FSU Athletics what it is today.. Sunday was anything but a day of rest for the suddenly red hot Toronto Maple Leafs who on Monday will be gunning for their third straight win. Even though the Leafs are coming off victories against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers the players were apparently still not in a very good mood as they prepared for the upcoming game against the Buffalo Sabres. In the middle of drills scoring forward Mikhail Grabovski who has scored 16 points this season got himself engaged in a heated battle with rugged defenceman Francois Beauchemin. When things turned physical the two combatants were quickly separated by Leafs forward Jason Blake and assistant coach Tim Hunter.

Details on what started this spirited confrontation were not revealed. This 27 year-old who is in his first year with the Leafs practiced on Sunday and is expected to play against Buffalo. Late Tuesday afternoon, the Cleveland Indians traded C Kelly Shoppach to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash.Shoppach, 29, was a former top prospect and International League All-Star with the Boston Red Sox organization. Throughout his Major League career, almost entirely with Cleveland, he's hit .241 with a .776 OPS. He is arbitration eligible thisoffseason, and the Rays are expected to give him a raise from his $1.95 million he made in '09.Shop comes into the Rays organization as a hitting catcher, seeing as his defense is worse than current starting catcher Dioner Navarro's, if only slightly (27 caught stealing rate compared to Navi's 30). In front of the plate, however, Shop knows how to take a walk and hit with consistency, something that Navarro seemed to lose his grip on in 2009 after his All-Star year in 2008.Throughout his career, the righty Shoppach has tormented left-handed pitchers, batting for a .999 OPS in a small sample size of 258 plate appearances.Shop was traded from Boston to Cleveland in 2006 in the deal that brought OF Coco Crisp to the Red Sox, where he was primarily a back-up for C Victor Martinez.When Shoppach filled in for an injured Martinez in 2008, he led American League catchers with 21 homers, and the Indians were expecting big things from him in the 2009 campaign. However, he batted just .214 with 12 homers and 40 RBI in 89 games, striking out 89 times.From a Tampa Bay standpoint, the obvious question post-trade becomes: Who is going to be the backstop for the Rays in 2010With Navarro slumping, C Sean Riggans perpetually hurt, and C Gregg Zaun and C Michel Hernandez out of town, the corps are a little muddled.

While Shop does bring a fresh new face to the mix, his defense leaves much to be desired, and his power against lefties is what makes him so valuable.Zaun is still rumored to be being pursued by the Rays for a back-up/platoon man like he was in 2009, so a Shop/Zaunbie platoon is not out of the question. But then what to do with Navi, only a year removed from an All-Star berth Only time will tell.The PTBNL from the Rays has to be announced by Dec. 20; a small-name pitcher makes the most sense regarding Cleveland's needs. A corresponding 40-man roster move for the arrival of Shoppach will be announced later Tuesday night.EDIT: RP Jeff Bennett has been designated for assignment by the Rays to make room for Shoppach on the 40-man roster, but still no word on who the PTBNL is.. The New York Giants know all about feeling lousy following Thanksgiving weekend. In 2007, the sense of despair rang throughout the Meadowlands before everyone even digested their Thanksgiving meals. The Giants had just lost their second game in three weeks to fall to 7-4. But this was no ordinary loss. A shockingly horrible Eli Manning stole the show while distributing the ball to the men in purple, tossing four passes into the gut of Minnesota Vikings.

Even more alarming were that three interceptions culminated into 21 points without the offense having to take the field. In a roller-coaster career, this was one of Manning’s low points. The defense looked pedestrian throughout the game too, allowing Sidney Rice to set the tone on a long touchdown catch on the second play from scrimmage. With little previous success to fall back on, the Giants appeared to be in shambles. However, instead of folding, they rallied around their beleaguered quarterback and oft-criticized head coach to complete the greatest Super Bowl run in recent memory. So with more talent across the board on offense, similar names on defense, and being merely one game off the 2007 pace, shouldn’t the Giants take solace in the fact history works in their favor The truth is, no. Then their next two games would likely be against Minnesota and New Orleans, who could combine for 30 total wins this season. The Giants defense is bad enough, but bringing this unit to pass-happy teams that play in passing paradises would create an even larger uphill battle. Sure, many in 2007 didn’t believe that the defense could muster up the four game run that unit did. But it is reasonable to say that there is unequivocally no chance they will be able to hold teams below 21 points every game in January as in 2007. The 2007 defense had talent, but it laid dormant for most of the regular season.