Big Baby hurts his thumb
Celtics forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis is expected to miss a significant amount of time with a thumb injury. According to reports in the Boston Herald and on ESPNBoston.com, Davis suffered a broken thumb in an off-court incident. According the the initial report by the Herald’s Steve Bulpett, Davis injured his finger in an altercation with a friend who was visiting from Louisiana. Bulpett added that it was said that Davis was “defending himself”, though it didn’t say from what. The Boston Globe reported that a league source said Davis would need surgery, and would be out of action for weeks. Davis signed a two-year, $6.5 million contract extension with the Celtics this past summer, and is expected to play a significant back-up role for the team.
McGwire back with the Cardinals
Mark McGwire, whose prolific slugging career has been tampered by allegations of performance enhancing drug use, is returning to the team with which he broke Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. McGwire will serve as the St. Louis Cardinals’ hitting coach this season, joining manager Tony LaRussa’s staff in the place of Hal McRae. McGwire has been out of baseball entirely since his retirement after the 2001 season, and has been largely out of the public eye, save for an embarrassing appearance before a Congressional committee on steroids in baseball, in which he insisted that he “wasn’t [there] to talk about the past.” According to Baseball-Reference.com, McGwire had a .263 career batting average and a career on base percentage of .394.
Arrest made in Howard murder
According to ESPN.com, a man has been arrested and charged with the murder of University of Connecticut student Jasper Howard. Howard, a starting cornerback for UConn’s football team, was stabbed to death following an on-campus dance on Oct. 18. John William Lomax, a 21-year old resident of Bloomfield, CT, was arrested and charged with the murder yesterday morning. He is being held on $2 million bail, but was simply trying to break up a fight according to his attorney, Deron Freeman. Two other people were charged in connection with the murder as well: Hakim Muhammad, 20 and also of Bloomfield, was charged with conspiracy to commit assault and Jamal Todd, 21 and a resident of Hartford, was charged with a felony charge of falsely reporting an incident and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment.
Edwards charged with misdemeanor
After an altercation outside of a nightclub that eventually led to his trade from the Cleveland Browns, current New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards has been charged with misdemeanor assault. He will be arraigned on Nov. 17, and his lawyer has said he will plead not guilty. The altercation occurred earlier this month outside of View Ultralounge & Nightclub in Cleveland, where Edwards allegedly punched Edward Givens after a fight. Givens is a promoter and a friend of Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, who called Edwards’ actions “childish”. According to ESPN.com, the league is looking into the charges against Edwards, meaning a suspension or disciplinary action is possible.
Revolution clinch playoff spot
Foxboro’s other professional team, the New England Revolution, clinched the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference in their last match of the season earlier this week. The Revs defeated the Columbus Crew by a score of 1-0 on a 79th-minute free kick goal by Joey Larentowicz, securing a playoff spot for themselves while knocking the Colorado Rapids out of contention. The Revs will be the eighth seed in the playoffs, and will play the Chicago Fire in the first round. The Revs have been one of Major League Soccer’s most successful teams, finishing as the MLS Cup runner-up in 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007, but they have never won the league championship.
