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.”

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.

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 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.

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?

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.

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.”

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.

“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.

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:

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.