Friday Tidbits—1/23/09

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Jon Gruden and Bruce Allen. Too bad John Daly is suspended, or Chuckie could have caught on as his caddy. Raheem Morris will replace Gruden.  Elsewhere, the Rams hired Steve Spagnuolo as their new coach...Arizona beat Philadelphia behind Kurt Warner’s 4 TD passes to earn a trip to the Super Bowl. Three of the went to Larry Fitzgerald, who has recorded the best playoff receiving numbers ever,with a game to go... Donovan McNabb threw for 375 yards and 3 TDs in a losing effort...Pittsburgh beat Baltimore to go back to the Super Bowl, trip number six in franchise history. Troy Polamalu’s Pick Six sealed the deal for the Steelers...Rex Ryan is the new Jets coach... Miami signed two-time CFL defensive player of the year Cameron Wake...Dom Capers will be Green Bay’s new defensive coordinator...Stephen Ross is the new owner of the Dolphins...McNabb and Andy Reid got word they will be back next year...Kerry Collins will replace Brett Favre and Philip Rivers in the Pro Bowl...Another Giants WR was shot. This time, it was Taye Biddle, and it wasn’t his own gun. Ironically, he earned a spot from the practice squad after Cheddar Plax shot himself...The Detroit Lions hired Jim Schwartz as head coach and Gunther Cunningham as defensive coordinator. Schwartz was defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans; Cunningham is a former head coach for the Kansas City Chiefs.

San Antonio inked Austin Croshere to a ten-day contract...Updating a report from last week, Delonte West (wrist) will miss six weeks... Mark Cuban got slapped with a $25K fine...Kobe Bryant messed around and got a triple-double...Dwight Howard had a 20-20 game vs. the Lakers...David Lee grabbed 21 boards against the Wizards...Darius Miles played in his tenth game, costing Portland $18 million against their salary cap...Portland will be without Steve Blake (shoulder) for a couple weeks...Charlotte sent Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins to Dallas for DeSagana Diop...Darius Miles got another 10-day contract. Portland is still fuming...Rip Hamilton got sent to the bench...Dwight Howard became the first person to receive three million NBA All-Star votes...Monta Ellis is about ready to return...Memphis canned Marc Iavaroni...Alonzo Mourning retired.


Buffalo’s Teppo Numminen (face) and St. Louis’ Roman Polak are out indefinitely...Ryan Smith and Milan Hejduk each scored their 300th goal...Columbus will be without Pascal Leclaire (ankle) for the rest of the year...The Islanders will be without Rick DiPietro (knee) for the rest of the year...Sidney Crosby will miss the All-Star Game.

Shutouts:  Anaheim’s Jonas Hiller vs. Minnesota, Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury vs. New York Rangers, Carolina’s Cam Ward vs. Toronto, St. Louis’ Chris Mason vs. Chicago

Hat Tricks:  Edmonton’s Ethan Moreau vs. Phoenix, Dallas’ Mike Ribeiro vs. Florida

Baltimore signed Gregg Zaun...Philly re-signed Greg Dobbs...The Angels signed Darren Oliver...Cole Hamels signed a three-year extension with Philly worth $20.5 million, or less than what C.C. Sabathia will pay in taxes...The Cubs sent Felix Pie to Baltimore for Garrett Olson and a minor leaguer...Nick Markakis signed a six-year, $66 million deal to stay in Baltimore...Seattle signed Felix Hernandez to a one-year deal...The White Sox signed Bobby Jenks...Colorado signed Hudson Street...Philly signed Ryan Madson to a three-year deal...Atlanta signed Mike Gonzalez...Jonathan Papelbon got a fat $6.25 million deal to avoid arbitration...Seattle signed Erik Bedard...Pittsburgh signed Adam LaRoche...Detroit signed Gerald Laird...The Mets signed Ryan Church...The Yankees signed Xavier Nady...Texas signed C.J. Wilson...Tampa signed Jason Bartlett...Jeff Kent is retiring...Philly signed Jayson Werth and Chad Durbin...The Dodgers signed Brad Ausmus...The Padres signed Henry Blanco...Prince Fielder signed a two-year deal with Milwaukee...Mark McGwire’s brother claims he used steroids in an upcoming book. No? Really? Get Out? Ha. Next, he’s going to say Jose Canseco did too...Troy Glaus had shoulder surgery...The Mets signed Alex Cora.

#8 Syracuse beat #13 Notre Dame.  #2 Duke beat #12 Georgetown.  #3 Wake Forest beat #9 Clemson.  #15 Arizona State beat #7 UCLA.  Stanford beat #23 Cal.  Ohio State beat #24 Michigan.  #20 Louisville beat #1 Pitt.  What an exciting Saturday of college hoops.  Northwestern beat #17 Minnesota.  #4 Pitt beat #8 Syracuse.  Northwestern beat #7 Michigan State.  #3 UConn beat #21 Villanova.  Virginia Tech beat #1 Wake Forest.  #6 UNC beat #9 Clemson.  Blake Griffin had 27 points, 18 rebounds as #5 Oklahoma beat Nebraska.  West Virginia beat #14 Georgetown. #18 Purdue beat #20 Minnesota.

Marlon Lucky was the Offensive Player of the Game as the East won in the East-West Shrine game...After failing miserably at Syracuse, Greg Robinson will be Michigan’s Defensive Coordinator...Oklahoma State WR Dez Bryant had knee surgery...Cal TE Cameron Morrah is turning pro...Kevin Morris is UMass’s new Coach...Sul Ross State RB Jermaine Swearington was shot and killed at a nightclub...LSU WR Brandon LaFell is going back to school...Troy Calhoun signed a five-year deal with Air Force.

Fuzzy Zoeller and Ben Crenshaw won the Champions Skins Match...Paul Casey won the Abu Dhabi Championship...Zach Johnson won the Sony Open.

That concludes the Tidbits. As always, feel free to add any stories you liked this week in sports or discuss any of the stories I mentioned.  Be sure to check out my Links Page for some great sites.