WWE

– Cable provider DirecTV has released its preview for the January 4th RAW and confirms that the Hitman will in fact be hosting RAW that night. Their preview reads:

“Shocking Guest Host Bret The Hitman Hart returns to confront Mr. McMahon.”

It’s also worth noting that the January 4 RAW is listed as a 2-hour show, contrary to speculation that WWE will add a 3rd hour to compete with TNA’s 1-hour lead-in.

– WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross has updated his blog, which you can read in its entirety at JRsBarBQ.com. Some highlights:

His Future in Wrestling: “Have I called my last wrestling matches? Hell, no. Will I return to weekly TV for the long term? That’s not too likely. Short term, weekly TV work may be in the cards and in a few months I may have a different mindset…”

Mike Tyson hosting RAW: “Tyson would be a great guest on WWE 24/7′s Legends Roundtable if the subject matter was the WWWF from back in the day as Mike and I had many casual discussions about him watching WWWF religiously as a kid growing up in NYC. Tyson would be hard to beat in a WWWF trivia contest. Based on personal experience and being one on one with him, Mike Tyson is a different guy than the publics perception of him.”

Wrestlers being “Independent Contractors”: “I have read so much about the unionizing of pro wrestling, which will never happen by the way in my view, and improving the working conditions for all the talents of which I wholeheartedly endorse by the way … Yes, in a “perfect world” all performers working for any company being full time employees with the traditional benefits would be ideal but the thought that individuals who are independent contractors cannot create their own benefits and take advantage of independent contractor status is not accurate.”

MLB

– WEEI is reporting that the Red Sox are believed to be working on an offer greater than the four-year/$60M deal they offered OF Jason Bay, but only if Bay signs for less than the Mets’ offer of four-years/$65M. GM Theo Epstein has expressed a desire to stay under the luxury tax threshold, so they’d have to be very creative – in the form of a heavily-backloaded contract – in order to get a new deal done. It’s unlikely, but if Bay hasn’t accepted the Mets offer by now, perhaps he just isn’t interested in playing there. The Giants and Angels are also interested.

– UTIL Mark DeRosa is leaning towards accepting a two-year deal from the Giants, reports Buster Olney of ESPN.com. Just yesterday it was rumoured that the Giants offered DeRosa a two-year/$12M contract, so perhaps the market for the veteran utility player wasn’t as strong as once thought. Should he sign with San Fran, DeRosa would step into a full-time gig, likely at third base, with 2B Pablo Sandoval making the switch over to first base, where he’ll be less of a liability in the long-term.

– The Athletics have re-signed RHP Justin Duchscherer to a one-year/$5.5M deal. Duchscherer missed the entire 2009 season due to injury and clinical depression, but his body of work suggests an excellent chance at a rebound.

– The Nationals have signed RHP Matt Capps to a one-year/$3.5M deal. Capps can earn an additional $425K in bonuses.

– The Royals have signed OF Brian Anderson.

NHL

– Senators F Daniel Alfredsson (shoulder) will miss the next few weeks. Expect him back in mid-January.

– Devils D Paul Martin (broken forearm) is out another four weeks after a setback.

NFL

– Lions QB Matthew Stafford (knee) will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of his rookie season.

– Panthers QB Jake Delhomme (broken finger) has been placed on the IR. His season is over.

NBA

– Blazers F Joel Pryzbilla (ruptured right patella tendon, patella dislocation) is out indefinitely.

– Bobcats F Tyson Chandler (stress fracture in foot) is out one week.

– The NBA salary cap is expected to drop slighty from the $57.7M it is at now, but not as drastically as the $6-7M that was feared. The cap is expected to be somehwhere in the low-50′s. This means that several notable teams (Knicks, Nets, Heat) who have been setting themselves up for this summer’s blockbuster free agency class (F LeBron James, G Dwayne Wade, F Chris Bosh, G Joe Johnson) will have less money to lure key players.

BOXING

– Less than one week after it appeared that the highly anticipated Mayweather/Pacquiao fight was all set to take place March 13, 2010 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, a dispute has erupted over a drug testing clause in Pacquiao’s fight contract that could sour the deal. Yahoo Sports is reporting that they spoke with Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions, who claims that Pacquiao has refused to agree to an Olympic-style drug testing program that would require he submit to frequent, random tests for performance enhancing & illegal drugs over the next three months.

The sticking point appears to be a blood test versus a urine test as Pacquiao’s trainers are concerned about drawing blood during his training regimen and leading up to fight. Legendary boxing promoter Bob Arum, who is currently on Pacquiao’s payroll, had this to say about the testing clause:

“We’re not going to agree to have Manny give blood in training, because that’s stupid,” Arum said. “Every doctor in the world will tell you that is stupid. He’ll give his blood at the beginning of the year and he’s willing to be urine-tested 24/7, but blood doesn’t show shit and he’s not going to do it.”

As a compromise, Pacquiao’s manager Michael Koncz said the fighter would agree to one blood test a month prior to the event, and would submit to as many urine tests as necessary but that drawing blood could harm the fighter and put him at a disadvantage. Conversely, Mayweather has agreed to the Olympic-style testing program and apparently does not have the same health concerns as Pacquiao.

It is interesting that this controversy is coming on the heels of comments made by Floyd Mayweather Sr. regarding his suspicion of Pacquiao’s steroid use earlier this year, and it begs the question as to whether or not this is some sort of media stunt to try and disparage Pacquiao’s reputation and/or leave the door open for Mayweather to walk away if he does not truly want to face the Filipino champion.

TNA

– The latest on Ric Flair is that he has not signed with TNA as of this week. Flair was out of the country on vacation last weekend but word is that TNA is putting pressure on him that if he doesn’t sign and appear on the January 4th show then the offer may be pulled. The issue most likely is Flair not wanting to go with WWE’s competition. However, money plays a factor as the last time WWE made him an offer it wasn’t even close to what TNA is offering. It’s believed that WWE’s last offer to Flair was somewhere around $250,000 per year. Flair hasn’t spoken with WWE about any kind of offer recently. As noted before, Flair wants to sign with Panda Energy in case TNA goes under, he still gets paid. Flair feels that since Hulk Hogan signed a deal under the same circumstances with Panda, he should get the same treatment.

– Reaction within TNA to the news of Scott Hall returning has been negative because of Hall’s track record with the company. Some are also worried about what kind of negative impact Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff can have on TNA with making bad decisions.

– While TNA is still turning people away from the iMPACT Zone for pay-per-views, they are having problems with attendance at TV tapings. They have been having to get people to move closer together and only film that direction because of attendance lately. They are trying to get more fans to come out for the January 4 live show and the feeling is attendance is more of a problem this time around because of the slow season at Universal Studios. Attendance at the theme park is down this time of year and people in the park who aren’t wrestling fans usually make up a good part of the crowd. There is hope that with Hogan and possibly Flair wrestling in the iMPACT Zone in 2010, attendance among park-goers who aren’t wrestling fans will increase.

F1

– Retired seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher, 41, has come out of retirement and signed with Mercedes. He is expected to make about $10.5M.

– Team Lotus has signed Jarno Trulli, 35, to a three-year contract.

VoV

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