NHL
– Team Canada has named its’ Olympic roster for the 2010 Olympics: G Martin Brodeur, G Roberto Luongo, G Marc-Andre Fleury, D Chris Pronger (A), D Shea Weber, D Brent Seabrook, Scott Niedermayer (C), D Dan Boyle, D Drew Doughty, D Duncan Keith, F Sidney Crosby (A), F Jarome Iginla (A), F Jonathan Toews, F Rick Nash, F Eric Staal, F Mike Richards, F Brenden Morrow, F Dany Heatley, F Joe Thornton, F Ryan Getzlaf, F Patrick Marleau, F Corey Perry, F Patrice Bergeron.
– Team Finland has named its’ Olympic roster for the 2010 Olympics, which includes: G Niklas Backstrom, G Miikka Kiprusoff, G Antero Niittymaki, D Lasse Kukkonen, D Sami Lepisto, D Toni Lydman, D Janne Niskala, D Joni Pitkanen, D Sami Salo, D Kimmo Timonen, F Valtteri Filppula, F Niklas Hagman, F Jarkko Immonen, F Olli Jokinen, F Niko Kapanen, F Mikko Koivu, F Saku Koivu, F Jere Lehtinen, F Antti Miettinen, F Ville Peltonen, F Jarkko Ruutu, F Tuomo Ruutu, F Teemu Selanne.
– Team Finland has named its’ Olympic roster for the 2010 Olympics which includes: G Ondrej Pavelec, G Tomas Vokoun, D Jan Hejda, D Tomas Kaberle, D Filip Kuba, D Zbynek Michalek, D Roman Polak, D Marek Zidlicky, F Petr Cajanek, F Patrick Elias, F Martin Erat, F Tomas Fleischmann, F Martin Havlat, F Jaromir Jagr, F David Krejci, F Milan Michalek, F Tomas Plekanec and F Josef Vasicek.
– Team Germany has named its’ Olympic roster for the 2010 Olympics, which includes G Thomas Greiss, D Christian Ehrhoff, D Dennis Seidenberg, D Alexander Sulzer, F Marcel Goc and F Marco Sturm.
– Team Switzerland has named its’ Olympic roster for the 2010 Olympics, which includes G Jonas Hiller, G Martin Gerber, D Mark Streit, D Yannick Weber and F Luca Sbisa.
MLB
– Ed Price of AOL Fanhouse believes that Mets OF Jason Bay’s four-year/$66M contract has a $17M vesting option, bringing the total to a five-year/$80M deal. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense on the surface, but his best guess is that it becomes $66M over four years if the fifth year option doesn’t vest – in other words, he would receive a $3M buyout. If the option vests as easily as many expect it will, most likely with a games played clause, Bay will simply earn $80M over the course of five years. Bay will have to pass a physical before the contract is official.
– Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports that the Cardinals’ offer to free agent OF Matt Holliday is “believed to be” over $100M. Scott Boras might not net an eight-year/$180M contract for his client like he did with Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira last winter, but the $100M threshold is a significant one. With Jason Bay off the table, there’s little reason for the Cardinals to increase their offer at this time, so the previously reported eight-year/$140M offer sounds like a stretch.
– The Giants have re-signed UTIL Juan Uribe. The deal, which is thought to be a one-year contract with a club option for 2011, is only pending a physical. The 30-year-old Uribe hit a respectable .289/.329/.495 this past season with 16 home runs and 55 RBI. He’ll probably serve in a super-utility role for the Giants in 2010.
WWE
– “Dr. Death” Steve Williams has lost his battle with cancer and has passed away at the age of 49. He had been battling throat cancer for a number of years, first apparently beating it in 2005. It came back this year and his health had worsened in recent months.
Williams held numerous titles in North America and Japan throughout his lengthy career in the wrestling industry. He also achieved All-American status as a collegiate football player at the University of Oklahoma. Williams, a close friend of Jim Ross, wrestled for WWE, WCW, UWF, All Japan among other organizations around the world. After the death of longtime rival and friend Mitsuharu Misawa this past June, Williams made the decision to retire from the ring after twenty-seven years of service. His final match was held on October 25, 2009 in Tokyo.
Our condolences go out to the family and friends of Steve Williams.
– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com with his thoughts on Bret Hart hosting Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Here’s what Ross said about the Hit Man’s return:
Bret Hart Hype on Monday’s RAW: The Bret Hart content on Monday Night Raw really added to the overall viewing experience of the program. I watched the show from start to finish and I felt like it was one of the better Raw broadcasts WWE has presented in several weeks. To say that I did not feel compelled to be sitting there at ringside with so many new developments on tap would not be truthful…What a great video package on Bret Monday night and it was timely as many younger fans likely were not as familiar with the WWE Hall of Famer since his last appearance on WWE TV was in November of 1997 excluding his HOF, TV exposure.
The King Returns: Ironically, Bret will return to WWE TV from Dayton, Ohio the site of the 1993 King of the Ring that I had the opportunity to broadcast. Bret won the tourney which was my 2nd WWE PPV after debuting at WM9 in Las Vegas.
Other Top Legends Returning: With Bret Hart returning to Raw as the G.M. next week, some fans are curious as to what that does to the chance of a return in the same role for either Dwayne Johnson or Steve Austin. I don’t have an answer to that question but I do feel that both men will eventually return to Raw in either the guest G.M. capacity or another role that provides them a “one off’ opportunity to entertain their fans and to promote what it is that they are involved….likely their films.
– According to the PWInsider, Melina has suffered a torn ACL. She suffered the injury at Tuesday night’s WWE Raw house show in Manchester, New Hampshire. During a Divas tag match, Melina slipped on the mat and was immediately grabbing her knee. The match was ended abruptly, with Melina getting pinned quickly and helped out of the ring. She did not take any further bumps in the match after going down. She was examined backstage and is seeing a specialist this week to diagnose the extent of the situation.
– The 12/28 edition of WWE Raw drew a 3.6 rating, up from last week’s disappointing 3.2. The show did hours of 3.49 and 3.73.
NFL
– 49ers WR Isaac Bruce stated in a conference call with St. Louis media Wednesday that there’s a “75%” change he’ll retire after this year. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “those who know Bruce say it’s closer to 100 percent.” The 49ers do plan to let Bruce play in their season finale Sunday against the Rams, with whom Bruce spent nearly his entire career. It will be interesting to see if Bruce makes the Hall of Fame. While he does rank second all-time in receiving yards and fifth all-time in receptions, Bruce made only four Pro Bowls and was never named All Pro.
NBA
– The NY Times reports that the Knicks are discussing the possibility of acquiring Rockets F Tracy McGrady. The Knicks like his expiring one-year/$23M remaining on his deal, as it comes off the books in time for the big free agent summer of 2010.
– Kings G Kevin Martin had a CT scan showing improvement and healing in his broken wrist, but won’t be cleared to play before January 12, when he’s scheduled to meet with doctors. “Splint is off. Just rehab to work on range of motion. So when that’s good I’m good. I got cleared to do all basketball activities without contact until my motion is good. And I’m not putting any dates on anything.” We should have a better idea of when he’ll play again after the January 12 meeting.
– The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Bulls are considering Lawrence Frank and Doug Collins for Vinny Del Negro’s head coaching job.
– The Columbian is reporting that the Blazers are set to sign F Shavlik Randolph. The 6’10″, 236-pound played 10 games for the Blazers last season.
VoV
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