Dear EarthTalk: What is being done to enable ocean fish populations to rebound after being so over-fished? Are nations coming together on this in any way? – Deborah Kay, Milford, CT

Although 75 percent of the world’s fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering from overexploitation, many governments continue to provide huge subsidies -- about $20 billion annually --­ to their fishing sectors. Pictured: A fisherman hauls in a catch in the North Sea. (Thinkstock)

There is no overarching international agreement to limit overfishing globally, but a few governments have been able to implement and enforce restrictions at regional levels that have resulted in rebounding fish stocks. The success of these isolated examples gives environmentalists and marine biologists hope that protecting marine hotspots from overfishing can save the biodiversity of the world’s oceans.

The results of an extensive four-year study released in 2006 by leading fisheries expert Boris Worm of Canada’s Dalhousie University and colleagues showed that overfishing would put every single commercial fishery in the world out of business by 2048, with the oceans potentially never recovering. But University of Washington fisheries scientist Ray Hilborn challenged Worm’s frightening conclusion, offering evidence that several fisheries in parts of the U.S., Iceland and New Zealand were recovering. So the two men decided to team up on a new, even more comprehensive survey of fisheries around the world.

The results the second time around, published in 2010 in the peer-reviewed journal, Science, provided ocean advocates with somewhat more encouraging results. In half of the 10 fisheries studied by Worm, Hilborn and their researchers, closing some fisheries, creating protected areas, setting catch limits and modernizing equipment did result in lower exploitation rates and some fish are indeed on the rebound.

“This is a watershed,” Worm told reporters. The new study “shows clearly what can be done not only to avoid further fisheries collapse but to actually rebuild fish stocks” and provides a baseline which scientists and managers can use to gauge progress. “It’s only a start, but it gives me hope that we have the ability to bring overfishing under control,” he added.

Of course, a little bit of good news hardly means we’ve solved the overfishing problem. Environmentalists were particularly disappointed last year when the European Union (EU) announced it would set quotas for deep-sea fisheries even higher than expected. According to Uta Bellion, director of the European Marine Programme for the non-profit Pew Environment Group, the EU’s decision “will give fleets from France, Spain and Portugal the opportunity to continue plundering these stocks.” She adds that the new quotas go against a 2009 United Nations General Assembly resolution that commits the EU to implement a set of measures to ensure the long-term sustainability of deep-sea fish and the rebuilding of depleted stocks.

Meanwhile, some groups are trying to end the government subsidies that effectively bankroll overfishing, legal or otherwise. The nonprofit Oceana, for instance, led an ill-fated 2010 effort to persuade the World Trade Organization to ban subsidies that encourage the depletion of fish and other marine resources. “Although 75 percent of the world’s fisheries are now either overexploited, fully exploited, significantly depleted or recovering from overexploitation, many governments continue to provide huge subsidies—about $20 billion annually—to their fishing sectors,” says Andy Sharpless, Oceana’s CEO. “The fleets are fishing at a level that’s as much as 2.5 times more than what’s required for sustainable catch levels.”

CONTACTS: Pew Environment Group, www.pewtrusts.org; Oceana, www.oceana.org; Boris Worm’s Lab, wormlab.biology.dal.ca; Ray Hilborn, www.fish.washington.edu/people/rayh.

Dear EarthTalk: What’s being done to “green up” professional sports? I know that the last two Olympic Games both made some effort, but are there others? — Rob Avandic, Chicago, IL

The last two Olympics were indeed greener than any before, but environmental awareness isn’t limited to the realm of international amateur competition. In fact, in just the last few years all of the major professional North American sports leagues have made strides in greening their operations.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has helped blaze the trail through its “Greening the Games” initiative. Since 2003, when the National Football League’s (NFL) Philadelphia Eagles turned to NRDC for help saving energy and reducing waste, NRDC has helped dozens of pro teams evaluate their environmental impacts and make changes. Today the Eagles obtain all of their energy at Lincoln Field from wind power, pour fans’ beverages in biodegradable corn-based plastic cups, power their scoreboard with solar panels and have reduced electricity use overall by a third. The NFL itself has also jumped on the bandwagon, implementing various green initiatives at the Super Bowl, the Pro Bowl and other big events.
In 2008, NRDC teamed up with Major League Baseball (MLB) to first green the All Star Game and, the following year, the World Series. Subsequently, NRDC assessed each team’s environmental footprint and made recommendations for improving it. Several teams have gone on to build or refurbish their stadiums with sustainability in mind. Boston’s Fenway Park, Atlanta’s Turner Field, Washington, DC’s Nationals Park, and San Francisco’s AT&T Park all get high marks for pro-environment features and operations.

In 2008, NRDC began working with the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) to green its signature event, the U.S. Open. For one, this led to a move to 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper for tournament programs. And an environmental review of all operations at the National Tennis Center in Queens, New York led to a number of green improvements, including the switch to 90 percent post-consumer recycled paper for some 2.4 million napkins and a move to wind turbines for the tournament’s electricity.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) jumped on the NRDC sports bandwagon in 2009, working with the group to organize its first annual Green Week in early April whereby the entire league works in concert to generate environmental awareness and funding for related causes. As part of the festivities, which took place in 2010 as well and will happen again in April 2011, each NBA team hosted community service events including tree plantings, recycling drives and park clean-up days.

NRDC got the National Hockey League (NHL) in on the act as well, helping to green the Stanley Cup Finals and working with individual teams as it did with baseball and football. In announcing the launch of the NHL Green program, league commissioner Gary Bettman commented that it’s only fitting for professional ice hockey to care about staving off global warming: “Most of our players learned to skate on outdoor rinks. For that magnificent tradition to continue through future generations we need winter weather—and as a league we are uniquely positioned to promote that message.”

CONTACTS: NRDC, www.nrdc.org/greenbusiness/guides/sports/; MLB Team Greening Program, mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/community/team_greening.jsp; NBA Green, www.nba.com/green; NHL Green, www.nhl.com/ice/eventhome.htm?location=/nhlgreen; USTA, www.usta.com.

15-year-old Leah Hoosick, APBA's 2010 Rookie of the Year

It was the middle of February 2010 and snow was falling at a rate that had never been seen before in Cincinnati. It was a massive storm that would eventually dump over 20 inches on a portion of the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States. The area was at a standstill, and there were few cars on the road. Most of those who braved the storm had Ohio license plates and were driving timidly through the snow-covered roads.

But there was one car, with Massachusetts plates, that moved confidently through the passive cluster of automobiles. The driver, Jan Hoosick, and her 15-year-old daughter, Leah, have racing in their blood, and were hurriedly getting back to their home in Amesbury, Mass., a 14-plus hour drive up I-90 East. Their car moved with precision as a large hydroplane boat, which was hitched to the bumper, followed its fluid progress. This is a family of hydroplane racers, and Leah had just decided to partake in the family tradition. Jan had found a good boat for Leah, and they had to drive to Cincinnati and back to get it. There was no time to waste, as they had to get back home and work on the boat to get Leah prepared for competitive racing.

A mere 10 months later Leah would be named the American Power Boat Association (APBA) Rookie of the Year.

Jan Hoosick grew up with powerboat racing. Her dad raced, her uncle raced, and her brother, Charlie Smith, was a national and world champion in the 2.5 liter stock class. As a child, and throughout adulthood, she would always work as a member of the crew, helping to prepare boats for competition. She is still an active participant in the sport, as she was just elected APBA’s inboard chairman for New England. On Father’s Day 2009 she decided to take Leah, who was then between her freshman and sophomore years at Whittier Tech in Haverhill, Mass., to see her cousin Kevin race in Syracuse, N.Y.

“She sat and watched and didn’t say too much about it,” said Jan. “We went to a couple more races and she still never really said anything.” Then on Christmas 2009, Leah surprised Jan by expressing interest in the sport.

“I knew my grandpa raced boats and when I saw my cousin race in Syracuse, I said to myself, ‘This looks fun; I want to try this,” said Leah.

After traveling to Cincinnati to purchase the starter boat for Leah, the two began working on the boat as a two-woman crew, putting in long hours making sure the boat was ready for competition. Leah passed a few safety tests and paid for her APBA membership, and she was ready to race.

Leah's boat, the Chaotic Dream

The first time Leah drove her boat, which she named Chaotic Dream, was during her first race. The reasoning behind this, which at first seems somewhat insane, is made clear by the fact that an individual cannot practice driving a boat going over 80 mph on a lake, as it would cause a disturbance; only when the lake is shut down for a race can boats travel at that speed. This is a sport where the craft is perfected in competition. Unlike other sports in which hours upon hours of preparation are put in and coaches agonize over details, hydroplane racing is instinctual. You need to trust every movement you make. The course is generally a one mile oval, and in Leah’s class there are five laps total. The boats average between 70 and 80 mph during races. Competitors can be as young as 14, but Leah, at 15,  was the youngest competitor in the APBA that year. Her class had competitors up to age 58.

The racers routinely jockey for position by maneuvering between one another with their boats literally hovering over the water. Crashes are typical and hospital visits are common. As a crane lowered Chaotic Dream into the water for the first time in Portsmouth, Va., on April 27, Leah was visibly nervous.

“Leah was very anxious, and I spoke to her right as she went out for the first time,” said Steve Armstrong, a high-level APBA competitor and family friend. “I told her to keep the buoys on her left and she would be fine. And I said, ‘If you get scared, just shut it off.’”

Leah reluctantly left the dock, but she didn’t have to shut it off.

“When she came back,” Armstrong continued, “it was clear we had another racer.” Leah was hooked on the sport, and her mother knew she was in for a lot of traveling.

“When she came back smiling I knew the investment was good,” said Jan.

Throughout the spring, summer, and fall the Hoosicks drove from their Massachusetts home to various parts of the United States and Canada, traveling as far as Michigan and Kentucky. On many occasions Leah would be dismissed early from school on Fridays so she and her mother could begin their weekend trek.

As she spent more time around the sport, Leah began to realize how close-knit the boating community is. People began taking a liking to her, at first because she was the youngest competitor in the APBA, but then because she showed a passion and respect for the sport that was undeniable.

“To win the Rookie of the Year,” said APBA Inboard Executive David Shaw, “Leah not only had to do a better job of driving than other rookies in the 1.5 stock class, but she had to do better than all the rookies in all other classes in the Inboard Division of the APBA.”

At one point in the season Leah cracked an exhaust manifold, which would have made her boat unable to race, but an experienced competitor came to her aid. “It was in Conewango, N.Y., and one of the higher class racers welded my manifold for me in his camper. It saved my boat for the race,” said Leah.

As the season wore on, and more and more people started to recognize this 15-year-old girl and her crew-chief mother taking the lower division by storm, Leah started climbing the standings in her division. At the end of the racing year she finished fourth in total points in her division of 15 racers, including a second place finish at the biggest race of the year in Valleyfield, Quebec, where there were over 100,000 spectators. But the scariest moment of year came in the last race of the season.

“In hydroplane racing you have mother nature to deal with,” said Jan. “If she decides to be gusty, these boats run above the water. A gust of wind can toss a boat over backwards in an instant.”

On one of those gusty race days, Leah hooked it going into her first turn after trying to take too sharp an angle. Her boat spun around, narrowly avoiding passing boats, and she did a 360-degree turn going 80 mph. Leah was taken away in an ambulance and treated for whiplash. She fully recovered and remains undeterred.

“I remember coming in after my first race and saying, ‘I need to go faster.’ So hopefully I can gradually move up in classes and do just that: go faster,” she said.

There is a ritual in boat racing. When a competitor wins her first race, she’s thrown into the lake in celebration. Steve Armstrong can’t wait until that happens for Leah. “It won’t be long until she gets her first win,” he said.  “And I’ll be the first one there to throw her in the water when she returns to the dock.” Although that type of admiration from her peers and superiors is alluring to Leah, she simply just loves to race.

“When I’m out there I feel like I’m in slow motion, going 25 mph,” she said. “You just go out there and do it; there’s is not much to it at all. I go off of instincts.”

MIAMI — Standing on my seat at Joe Robbie Stadium, I felt an electric jolt of collective will and hope transmitting from the sellout crowd to the eleven Miami Dolphins strung into kickoff formation. The AFC Championship against Miami-killer Thurman Thomas and the nemesis Bills was seconds away. The special-teamers were pumping their arms at the raving, towel-waving crowd, inciting even more noise. It was a cloudless, temperate afternoon in 1993, Quiet Riot was blaring from the stadium speakers, and the Super Bowl would follow if they could just win this game. Those few minutes of optimistic anticipation during warm-ups, the intros, and that kickoff rank among my favorite Dolphin memories. It was finally going to be our time after so many letdowns and stories about the seventies.

Ten years before that awful loss to Buffalo, my preschool teacher gathered her class of mini-Miamians, with our defenselessly malleable developing brains, to start our indoctrination. She told us we were lucky, because we were from Miami, and Miami’s football team, the Dolphins, had the best winning percentage of any sports team in the world, she emphasized. It was also the only team that ever had a perfect season. Then she dropped the needle on a record and played the catchiest damn folk song our little ears had ever heard. I already knew about the golden-arm quarterback, because we had the same first name (my Dad’s friends made sure I knew this) and now I was hit with this fantastic little kids’ song, and told that I was a winner by geographical birthright, because the Miami Dolphins were #1. Soon I was watching every game on TV, learning to read with Edwin Pope’s articles, and even went to the Orange Bowl a couple times before Mr. Robbie built his stadium. There was never going to be another way for me. Unfortunately, following pro football in Miami means suffering the furious frustration of a spoiled kid denied the toy he covets, the self-delusion of an earnest mother with eternal faith in her no-good son, and, for the last decade, the excruciating boredom of a goat-rapist. Our teams’ irrelevance is perpetual, and because the draft and free agency are captivating times for a football fan, the disappointment is year-round, since we always blow the draft. Like smoking cigarettes, it’s marginally pleasurable, intellectually indefensible, and continued regardless. And we continue to dig to new lows. The losing is intolerable, but it is not the worst part. The star-struck owner has turned home games into a galling, cross-promotional caricature of a stadium experience. Random, chipper celebrities materialize constantly on a giant screen and make little dorsal-fin-hand-hats over their heads and tell the fans to “Fin Up!” Somebody reading this just yelled out “NO!” involuntarily and startled the people around him. But yes, I swear, that’s what happens at Dolphins games now.

The personnel department is exceptionally bad at procuring personnel, though we are used to that now. But our current GM seems a graceless ghoul, famous for suggesting that a potential draft picks’ mother was probably a whore. Though he is no longer nursing off the ample tit of the fraudulent Daddy Parcells, the baffling, bungling decisions continue. The organization has not been what anyone would call competent for many years. We have been losers, but we were somewhat classy losers. Now even that is gone. We used to have Marino – Dan the Man, to me, the best ever. Maybe we’d lose, but rarely because of him. Now we have Henne: inventor and champion of the one-yard swing pass Hail Mary. Do you remember the scene in Fire in the Sky when Travis gets back from the alien abduction and he’s by a phone booth, crouched naked in the rain, and when his friends almost touch him he unleashes a haunting, high-pitched scream of panicked terror? That’s either Henne under pressure or me watching the games – you choose, either works.

Do you realize it was eleven years ago that The Mustache imported his loathsome, repellent Run-Punt-Fold system that turned even the occasional 10-9 win into insipid, entertainment-neutral slop? That ultra-conservative, faux-macho style is a punishment to fans, vendors, cameramen and anyone else subjected to it, but now it’s practically ingrained, part of Dolphins DNA, a requisite to coach here. I support neither the method nor the results.

So what is The Dolphins? Who do we root for year after year? Is it the players, the clumsy keepers of the brand, the genteel uniforms, or just the city? I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s mostly the city for me, although sometimes I really like some of the players. My Dolphins habit has taught me patience. It has helped me existentially, giving me the self-awareness boost you get when you realize you are delusional for maintaining irrational perpetual hope in something broken. You know better, you do it anyway, but at least you know you know better. It’s a step.

For every Keith Byars sideline run through the Dallas snow with my whole family, even abuela, yelling deliriously at the TV, there have been dozens of wasted Sundays. With the epic gift of Marino came the sad reality that he retired ring-less and made the “best QB ever” argument on his behalf noble, but futile. That catchy song and schoolteacher’s appeal to my burgeoning civic pride doomed me. The situation is hopeless by all rational measure. It would be ridiculous to get sucked in again when there are no signs of a renaissance. I am a Dolphins fan and I hate the Dolphins. Unless… unless we get Cam Newton or Ryan Mallett. What this team needs is a quarterback, and then we’ll be contenders, maybe even #1.

On the Record Sports is back and better than ever.

Don’t miss Michael Pina and Big Jim Murray as they break stories, shout like idiots and otherwise analyze the world of sports in Boston and beyond.

On the Record Sports — On BlastMagazine.com

Blast is partnering with Yawkey Talkies to bring you the latest in Boston sports coverage.

So tune to YawkeyTalkies.com, and bookmark it for everything from the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and local college sports!

Pilot Pen will drop its sponsorship of the annual New Haven professional tennis event, the New Haven Register reported, putting one of the only professional sporting events in Connecticut’s second largest city in jeopardy.

The event will go on next year, August 20-28, but the pen company will drop its sponsorship when its contract is up after that.

The register reported that Pilot Pen has been sponsor of the annual event, which features a men’s and women’s tournament, since 1996. It is held in downtown New Haven, near the Yale Bowl and Yale Field in the 13,000-seat Connecticut Tennis Center. The newspaper reported that Pilot Pen put up $1.4 million annually for the tournament.

“We firmly believe that Pilot Pen Corporation’s long-term support of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament has helped us grow the sport of tennis in the Northeast and put us in a solid position to attract a new title sponsor," tournament director Anne Worcester said in a statement "This tournament has developed into an entertainment event featuring some of the world’s best professional tennis players as well as many off-court events which have expanded our reach to all types of fans. A combined men’s and women’s tournament is a very desirable sports property and will appeal to national and regional partners alike."

"We have enjoyed being the title sponsor of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament" said Dennis Burleigh, President and CEO of Pilot Pen Corporation of America in the same statement. "Unfortunately, the economic recession has severely impacted our consumers and the office products industry in particular, necessitating this difficult decision."

For sports fans who desire their information rapidly and already versed on the blogs, boards and even their teams’ Twitter feeds, there is a new game in town. Launched Monday, Spitter is a sports fan’s newest real-time source for news and discussion.

Powered by SpitterBot, Spitter searches the Internet for the best sports news headlines and fan discussions and presents them on pages organized by team. Registered members of Spitter — the spitters? — post comments and news links directly onto team-specific pages for the community to share. Thus, a Red Sox fan can go to the Red Sox page on Spitter.com and find real time news headlines with links to current coverage of the team, from a wide range of media sites, paired with fan discussion and commentary by other Sox fans. The site can also combine all of the teams that you’re interested in into a Twitter-style stream, becoming a one-stop destination for sports news.

A sample view of the Red Sox Spitter home page.

Spitter currently features specific page sites for the teams in NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, college teams, PGA golfers and drivers in NASCAR, FormulaOne and MotoGP.

“There’s no better way to reach large numbers of male listeners than through exclusive sports programming” said Dan Mason, the president and CEO of CBS Radio in a statement released this morning.

And with that cheerful tone, the corporate machine is axing 104.1 WBCN: The Rock of Boston, leaving most of New England without a dedicated modern rock and roll radio station.

On August 13, Mix 98.5, one of those “80s, 90s and today” top 40 stations will move to the 104.1 frequency. CBS Radio will launch 98.5 The Sports Hub in the other slot. WBCN will continue to operate as a web-only broadcaster. In Hartford, a very similar radio station with the same frequency, 104.1 “Radio 104″ WMRQ was shut down in much the same way by owner Clear Channel several years ago.

According to the company website, CBS will try to change the call letters of 98.5 to WBZ-FM, named after its historic AM news and talk station.

This is a money decision for CBS.

“Advertisers will have an array of opportunities to brand themselves on the website using text, audio, and video, along with the capability to target consumers down to a specific zip code,” the company said about its new sports station.

Morning show personalities Toucher and Rich will run mornings on the new sports station.

Blast learned the news today while editor John Guilfoil was giving a video game themed broadcast on the morning show of the independent 101.7 WFNX, the only remaining rock station in Boston. However, WFNX and WBCN have decidedly different music and decidedly different listeners. While there is much crossover, WFNX is known for its indie rock while WBCN blasts the harder stuff. WBCN gained its fame in the 1960s, when it was at the forefront of the growth of progressive rock.

The move marks the end of an era in Boston and is utterly devastating to Boston’s suffering local rock music scene, which has been on the downturn for almost a decade.

It all began with a girl who had nothing to wear. Liza Goncalves was hosting MADD Sports on BET, and she had resorted to cutting up old jerseys to create dresses for her onscreen wardrobe.‚ 

“It was out of necessity because there was no fashionable sportswear for women,” Goncalves said. “I thought there must be something cute and fashionable for women to wear.”‚ 

Today Goncalves is creating those cute and fashionable pieces with her eco-friendly, Philadelphia-based clothing line, Vintage Blue, which has been popping up in boutiques across the country from Boston to Texas.‚ ‚ 

But shoppers will not find any deconstructed jerseys here. Right now Goncalves’ pieces consist of vintage-inspired T-shirts and tote bags featuring the All-American Girls Professional Baseball Team portrayed in the 1992 feature film “A League of Their Own.” Goncalves said the decision to feature the women’s baseball team was all about finding female inspiration. She did not want to market a clothing line for women that featured men’s sports teams.‚ 

Goncalves ‚ and her partner, Michelle D’Avella, plan to expand the line to include dresses, bags and several other items as soon as they have the means to make them all eco-friendly. While D’Avella was enthusiastic about making the line eco-friendly, it took her a while to be convinced. Finally she saw a television program that tested a mother’s breast milk for chemicals, many of which had come from the mother’s clothing. “I didn’t want to be a part of that,” Goncalves said.‚ 

From that day on the Vintage Blue mission was “Let’s make sure we’re organic. Let’s make sure we don’t waste,” Goncalves said. “We wanted to give our customers quality, fashionable affordable eco-friendly garments.”‚ 

Dismissing the concept that eco-friendly clothes had to be made from hemp or one-color materials, Goncalves created a line of distressed graphic T-shirts and totes ranging in price from $18 to $28.‚ ‚ 

Although the line has been picked up by boutique stores across the country, Vintage Blue sales remain predominantly online on their interactive Web site.‚ Vintage Blue also donates five percent of online sales to Kiva, an organization that provides micro-loans to entrepreneurs in developing countries.‚ 

With a look inspired by vintage paper and scrapbooks, the ‚ site features not only the clothing line, but also Vintage Blue Magazine and a blog to feature Goncalves’ and D’Avella’s work and meetings with celebrities. Also providing customers with an inside scoop on everything from their preliminary ideas to finished products.‚ 

Boston shoppers interested in seeing Goncalves’ ‚ line can visit Bodega on Clearway Street or place their orders online. In‚ approximately‚ seven days you will be rocking in fashionable sport spirit.

I love competition. Most sports fans do and so when fantasy was conceived most sports fans‚ saw their‚ wildest dreams answered. I have never played fantasy before (although next year I’m definitely getting in a football league), but last baseball season I used to play Beat the Streak on MLB.com.

The premise is simple. Each day you pick a player that you think will have a hit that day. The site shows you the pitching/hitting match up and you choose who, it can be any player in the league, you think will produce a hit. One hit- that’s all you need. The next day you do the same thing. You can pick a different player everyday if you want. There is really no restrictions to who you pick, just that you have to pick someone. Your streak continues until the player you selected doesn’t produce a hit and then your streak ends and you start all over again. The objective is to have a streak of 57 games. The MLB hit streak was set in 1941 and is 56 games.

It may seem easy, but trust me folks- it isn’t. There are all different strategies to try: riding a hot player, basing it on who is pitching that day, where the game is being played, etc. There is always something that causes your streak to combust. It can be frustrating and addicting. Plus who doesn’t want to win a million dollars?

Well, it’s not quite baseball season yet, although spring training is looming, so today I decided to start playing ESPN’s Streak for the Cash. It is the same concept except there are random games with random questions asked. Will this player score more than this player? Who will score first? You start building a streak and with the goal of a 27 pick streak by the end of March.

The whole thing seems like it was stolen a bit from MLB.com, which I believe offered their version before ESPN came out with theirs, but fun nonetheless. I like the fact that it features many sports situations and you don’t have to play every day-you can pick and choose as you please.

So here I go. Wish me luck! Let me know- have you played before? What is your highest streak?

Julio Rodriguez, a barber from Lawrence, Mass., pleaded guilty Tuesday to involuntary manslaughter after an October 2004 he killed a man and wounded two others over a Yankees-Red Sox playoff game

The Associated Press reports that Rodriguez, 62, was sentenced to five years in prison and credited for the four he has already served since he was arrested in 2004.

Prosecutors say Rodriguez, a Yankees fan, was watching a playoff game on television in Boston. The Red Sox won 6-4 and the group started teasing the New York fan. He then pulled out a gun and shot three of them, killing one.

The outburst was apparently alcohol-fueled, and Rodriguez says he has no memory of the incident.

There you are. Just sitting in front of the TV and wishing, just wishing that someone would throw a blunt object in the direction of Avril Lavigne or Fergie.

You now have your chance.

EA, announced this week the development of Celebrity Sports Showdown for the Nintendo Wii. Being developed by EA Canada, responsible for last year’s EA Playground and features 10…ahem…celebrities including Fergie, Avril Lavigne, Keith Urban, Reggie Bush and Sugar Ray Leonard. The “celebrities” will compete in 12 outdoor themed sporting events including beach volleyball, canoeing, archery and of course — dodgeball.

Celebrity Sports Showdown, scheduled to ship this Winter will be the first title developed under the new EA Sports Freestyle line, a perfect fit according to Dave McCarthy, the game’s executive producer. “We feel that this game is the EA SPORTS Freestyle answer to a great Wii party game. It explores the lighter side of sports and pulls inspiration from the entertainment spectacles that are so prevalent in pop culture today,” said McCarthy. “Celebrity Sports Showdown will bring people to the party with a collection of games and celebrities that appeal to everyone.”

Editor’s note: I’m running this story because our sports duo of Micah and Perry is from Philly, and sometimes they need to be taken down a peg. — John

From our Posterboy sports blog:

If you have ever been down to Strip District and walked into Wholey’s, you know that the owner definitely doesn’t give a shit. Don’t get me wrong, you get the best and freshest seafood, (which is saying something for the city of Pittsburgh because it’s not exactly near the ocean) but they hack it up and dish it out right in front of your face. And now the owner of Wholey’s will be refusing to sell any octopi to Red Wing fans for fear of them throwing it on the ice at the Mellon Arena. From the countless songs to beer specials for shitting on Sienna Miller, Pittsburghers think a little bit differently than other sports fans and Mr. Wholey is just one more example. Here are a few reasons why Pittsburgh is better than some other sports towns:

Philadelphia: Pittsburghers only boo guys named Kordell Stewart.

Boston: Pittsburghers aren’t self-loathing and don’t want to slit their wrists after every loss.

New York: Pittsburgh news outlets do not report anything bad about the athletes, and lead broadcasts with player vacations to their homeland.

Dallas: Pittsburgh teams have a little respect for the game rather than bringing in guys like T.O. and Pac Man. Also, three more words, No Jerry Jones.

Oakland: Do not dress up like the Legion of Doom or have an owner that resembles a character from a movie based on a Roald Dahl book.

Baltimore: Pittsburgh has a hockey team, a quarterback and a football team that isn’t purple.

Cleveland: Pittsburgh has won a title in the past 50 years, and doesn’t lose franchises.

Everyone else: Jesus is on Pittsburgh’s side.

Electronic Arts announced Monday it was teaming up with AOL to create the free EA Sports GameShow.

“EA Sports GameShow is the only live-hosted, interactive online sports trivia game. Featuring programming that is updated daily, each trivia session is broadcast from the Ea Sports GameShow studio in Orlando, Fla.,” EA said in a statement Monday.

“After several months of Beta testing, we’re excited to move to the next phase of EA Sports GameShow,” said executive producer Roy Harvey. “This agreement with AOL provides an outstanding opportunity to introduce new sports fans from across the country to ‘live broadcast gaming’, a captivating, innovative form of entertainment.”

Every Monday through Friday from 12 p.m. through 1 p.m., fans can take part in the AOL “FanHouse Challenge Hour.”  The game lets players interact with the on-air personalities while competing against sports fans from around the country. Questions are presented through a variety of media, including text, audio and video.

We’re waiting to see how successful this one is, but if nothing else, it’s another example of how EA runs the interactive sports world.

Ok, everyone, it’s Tourney time. It’s time to fill out your brackets and get ready for two of the best days in sports (Thursday and Friday of the NCAA’s are always phenomenal). Click here to play in the Blast Magazine Tourney Pool. It’s free and Perry and I are going to come up with some prizes that we’ll let you all know about as soon as we figure it out (give us a break, these things take time).

Blast Magazine starts its brand new sports section and introduces its new sports editor, Micah Warren, with a story about reports of dating violence charge against Patriots star Randy Moss in Florida.

Polish off your old Randy Moss Vikings jersey, because that guy is back.

The Patriots star has been hit with a temporary injunction for protection against alleged dating violence. A restraining order is in place that will not allow him to come within 500 feet of accuser Rachelle Washington.

Moss allegedly hit the victim, seriously injuring her and then refused to allow her to seek medical attention.

WDBO-AM 580 Radio initially reported this story last night, but has since taken it down off of their website. Initially, we didn’t think it was true, but now WDBO has a new report on their website that indicates otherwise.

Florida court documents filed January 14 allege dating violence against Randy G. Moss. Moss has a home in Boca Raton, FL.

Moss responded to the allegations Wednesday telling reporters, “all I want to say is that they are false allegations.”

“It’s something I’ve been battling for the last couple days, threats of going public if I didn’t pay X amount of dollars,” Moss aid. “Before people rush quick to judgment, I think you need to find out the facts about really what is really going on. This young lady, by no means, is hurt. I didn’t hurt her.”

The Patriots don’t let much distract them, but with two games left before history is made, this couldn’t come at a worse time. This is about the worst time for a screw up.

This is not the first time Moss has had legal trouble, but even given his past escapades, what we do know about Randy is that he is a choirboy when he’s winning. In 1998, he dispelled the myth that he was a problem child coming out of college by putting up huge numbers and helping Minnesota to a 15-1 record and NFC Championship game appearance. But stay tuned as this develops.

So, if we want to have fun with Randy today, we’ll just have to watch this great music video about his time in Oakland. This is worth watching:

By Mel Odom

Electronic Arts is the powerhouse of sports video games, and they continue that trend with their release of Rugby 08. Even though rugby may never be as popular here in the US as it is in other countries of the world, EA has definitely built a game that captures the excitement of the game for the seasoned pro and made the interface easy enough for newbies.

I have to admit that I didn’t know much about the sport at the time I picked the game up. Since my teen and pre-teen beat me regularly at baseball, football, and basketball — and don’t even get me started about the Tony Hawk games — I figured if we played a game that all of us were unfamiliar with, it might level the playing field, so to speak.

I had limited success. My teen and I started out pretty even, but his natural ability with the gaming interfaces knocked me out of the running within a few hours. I could win one every now and again, but the percentages were against me. I can still play at a pretty competent level against my ten-year-old.

In addition to the two-player mode, players choose to sharpen their game with the single-player versus the computer in single games, or venture to season-level play. This seems to help a bit, but the heckling of my teen has limited my gameplay time to whenever he’s not around. I’ve decided you have to have a certain amount of dedication to this game to get a return on your investment.

Rugby 08 features opportunities to play as one of the international teams. You can play a six-week campaign in the World Cup that is complete with player rotation and injury management, which is really overkill for me or anyone with a passing interest in a pick-up game to play against the kids or with a buddy. Some people really get off on managing all those aspects, but I just want to play ball and heckle whoever I’m playing.

A challenge mode allows a player to pick through several different scenarios and play them. In addition to short bouts of fun, a player can pick up necessary skills and tactics to further understand the game.

One of the best aspects of the game is the ability to control the camera, slow the action, and replay game action. My teen took great delight in this, showing me again and again how he blew the socks off my guys. Embarrassingly, it took me a little while to figure out how to do the same to him, and by that time, my great plays came few and far between.

I was really let down to see that there was no online capability. That’s where fathers get their true revenge: watching junior go head-to-head with other online players that can kick his butt. I live for that in Counterstrike and the Halo games because I hardly have time to draw a breath in those before he kills me. After getting seriously trashed again and again, I would have loved to heckle from the sidelines while someone else handed him the comeuppance he so richly deserved after all the flack I’d taken.

Although the game comes with a soundtrack and commentary, I got tired of both in short order. The music was good and the commentary was fun at the beginning, but after playing it for awhile, we both got sick of it, turned the sound off, and cranked up the MP3 player in the game room to provide our own soundtrack. And my son continued to deliver the cutting commentary as I went down in flames again and again.

All in all, Rugby 08 is a game that can be enjoyed by the whole family. I’ve even seen my wife eyeing the game. However, she’s a serious football fan — NFL and AFL as well as video games — and I’m really never going to be in the mood for that kind of pain.

Rugby 08 is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB. This game can also be found on: PC, PS2, PS3, and Xbox 360.